The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee did their absolute best to derail the Comey hearing on Thursday, turning what should have been solemn, serious proceedings into a partisan pantomime.

Their audacity was on full display as almost each and every one criticized the GOP for engaging in partisan theater before launching into their own partisan theatrics with all the gusto of Laurence Olivier.

The Democrats were doing everything they could ensure Comey wasn’t in a position to answer for his decision

The tone of the Democrats’ outrageous behavior was set by ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, who seems hell-bent on securing his legacy as Hillary Clinton’s most loyal stooge.

Cummings asserted that “some” — i.e., some Democrats — “say [the FBI] went too far in this investigation,” and implied the entire investigation itself was unwarranted as “Clinton has acknowledged that she made a mistake.”

And indeed, despite the fact that even he admitted that “there is a perceived gap between the things you said and your recommendation on Tuesday,” Cummings asserted with a straight face that the proceedings were a “partisan circus” — moments before suggesting that hearings on “gun massacres” and police killings of blacks would be a better way to spend their time.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney asserted that Republicans were not concerned with alleviating fears of a double standard, but were merely mad that they didn’t get the result they desired.

“Republicans have turned on you with vengeance after you announced your decision not to prosecute [Clinton],” Maloney said. “I believe that what we’re seeing today is that is the GOP does not like the results of an investigation and how it turns out,” she added.

“Now I predict they will be calling for more hearings … at the expense of the American taxpayer,” Malony added. Rep. Maloney’s professed concern for taxpayers’ money is hard to take seriously, given that she authored the bill to form a Congressional Commission on the Potential Creation of a National Women’s History Museum.

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Rep. Gerry Connolly, meanwhile, actually attempted to turn the hearing into one about Donald Trump. After echoing the allegation that “today’s hearing is political theater,” Connolly asserted that the only reason the hearing was happening was because Trump is such a bad candidate that the GOP needs to face a weakened candidate.

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“I don’t know what the emergency is other than one side’s about to nominate somebody who is a pathological narcissist, who is talking about banning Muslims and Mexicans crossing the border [being rapists]” and are “terrified at the prospects of the consequences of that at the election.”

Republicans at the hearing, however, seemed much more with the rule of law, and the consequences the country faced from Clinton’s mishandling of classified information.

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Remarkably, Connolly wasn’t the only Democrat who managed to drag Trump into the proceedings. Cummings and Maloney both mentioned Trump, as did Rep. Lacy Clay, who ignored completely the matter at hand and actually attempted to use his speaking time to start a conversation with Comey about the dangers of white supremacists on Twitter.

“Doesn’t Twitter make it easier for them to recruit?” Clay asked.

“I don’t think I’m in a position to answer that,” said Comey.

Unfortunately the Democrats were doing everything they could ensure Comey wasn’t in a position to answer for his decision either.