Due to the sensitive nature of some information and testimony, House Democrats made the decision to hold hearings into President Donald Trump’s conduct on Ukraine with the House Intelligence Committee and keep them classified from the public.
Whether that is the right decision for hearings that could wind up with the removal of the president is up for debate. What isn’t though is the fact that Republicans are definitely involved. The House Intelligence Committee has nine Republican members, all of whom are free to attend hearings surrounding the investigation.
But that isn’t good enough for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), perhaps the biggest Trump defender in all of Congress. He has been upset at being left out of the inquiry, and today announced he was leading a charge to storm the Secure Compartmentalized Intelligence Facility (SCIF) where the hearings are being held.
Matt Gaetz says he’s about to lead this phalanx of House Republicans into the SCIF to check out what’s going on with the whole impeachment thing pic.twitter.com/iFyxqMgcsr
— Sam Brodey (@sambrodey) October 23, 2019
His army of elderly white Republican men at his side quickly became the subject of mockery.
https://twitter.com/aidachavez/status/1187025358928916480
Such uniformity in that phalanx! https://t.co/Voy792uBhU
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) October 23, 2019
A shockingly lovely photo here. The angelic woman looking over all the men with the halo around her. https://t.co/q5jToqSATo
— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 23, 2019
It appears Matt was unable to recruit a single woman to this effort. https://t.co/qoxG0DRxW7
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) October 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/pattymo/status/1187021354664628224
Gaetz is still searching for Captain Kangaroo.https://t.co/Aho6swjXEl
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) October 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/NaveedAJamali/status/1187015265478774785
🎶 Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry (white) men 🎶 https://t.co/Kz8dIujYU7
— David Litt (@davidlitt) October 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/petercilella/status/1187023175294410755
According to Andrew Desiderio, Politico‘s congressional reporter, Gaetz was successful in storming the SCIF but may have compromised it by bringing in cell phones.
NEWS: Source tells me that after House Republicans tried flooding the SCIF with non-committee members, “many brought their cell phones too into the classified area.”
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) October 23, 2019
“Stand off in progress,” source adds.
Laura Cooper’s deposition is currently on hold while Republicans remain inside the SCIF apparently trying to negotiate a settlement with Schiff.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) October 23, 2019
Source tells me the SCIF is now being swept because of the cell phone violations.
Well done.
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