It's worse

Take names.

Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican known for his long history of made-for-TV antics, the band of about two dozen lawmakers entered the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), an area where members can review classified information and hold private hearings. It’s a wild escalation after weeks of complaints — from Republicans who aren’t on the committees investigating impeachment — about being cut out of the impeachment process.

Notably, according to a list provided by Gaetz's office of the Republicans who RSVP'd to join the protest, 12 of them are members of the Oversight or Foreign Affairs committees — including Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member on the Oversight Committee — meaning they have been allowed to sit in on all depositions held in the SCIF in recent weeks.

  Buzzfeed

Disgraceful.

Rep. Fred Keller, an Oversight member who joined the protest, "was acting in solidarity with those members of Congress who are not allowed in the hearings, to review testimony, or read transcripts of this secret inquiry. ... [He] believes the way this inquiry is being conducted is unfair and it needs to stop," according to a spokesperson.

President Donald Trump knew in advance that Republicans planned to occupy the space and supported their plan, “saying he wanted the transcripts released because they will exonerate him,” Bloomberg reported, citing four sources familiar with the conversation.

Can it be he actually believes that?

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who was inside the SCIF at the time, said he saw 20 Republicans facing down just two security guards. He said that rather than try to eject the members, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff and the House sergeant-at-arms decided to wait them out so as to not escalate the situation.

[...]

Rep. Alex Mooney, a Republican from West Virginia, made an audio recording while in the SCIF, which he tweeted just before 2 p.m. In it, he says he is calling from a secure line within the SCIF and that about 30 Republicans, including Rep. Steve Scalise, the number two House Republican, were sitting inside with him. All Democrats, Mooney said, had left.

"The moment we walked into the room, Chairman Adam Schiff saw us, took the witness, and walked out of the room because they refuse to have a hearing in a transparent way," he said.

As they should have, you idiot. You took your phones into a secure room, violating the rules and destroying security.

The protest Wednesday is the latest in a line of complaints from GOP lawmakers, who have argued that they are being cut out of the impeachment inquiry and that Democrats are holding hearings in secret. That’s not the case.

While the hearings have not been public, they have not been “secret.” Members of both parties on the committees holding the hearings — Oversight, Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs — have been able to attend the depositions and ask questions.

Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat, told reporters he believed the move by Republican lawmakers was an effort to stop the interview with Cooper in the SCIF on Wednesday.

I doubt it. I think it was a show for Trump and Trump supporters.

“It’s not a coincidence that [Republicans] met with the president, [who] complained, ‘You’re not doing enough.'”

There you go.

“It’s a bunch of Freedom Caucus members having pizza around a conference table pretending to be brave,” Rep. Tom Malinowski, a Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters Wednesday. “All they basically did here was to storm a castle that they already occupied.”

[...]

An Intelligence Committee official said in a statement that Republicans bringing in their phones was a “major security breach,” adding, “They engage in this circus-like behavior because they can’t defend the President’s egregious misconduct.”

[...]

Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat and former prosecutor, said in an interview with BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that she wanted the public to know the process is standard. “This rhetoric coming out of the White House about the procedure that's being followed right now being irregular is complete garbage,” she said. “Ken Starr did not hold public hearings when he was doing the investigation into Bill Clinton. Everything was done the way most investigations are done, in private away from the public.”

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:



UPDATE:  And still worse: