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Oct 24, 2019
US Elections | Trump impeachment Inquiry: chaos erupts as Republicans barge into inquiry hearing
Political tensions over an intensifying impeachment inquiry reached fever pitch on Wednesday as Republicans “stormed” a closed-door committee hearing on Capitol Hill disrupting a crucial deposition related to the Ukraine controversy – a day after devastating testimony from a key diplomat.
A group of Republican members of the House of Representatives,
chanting “Let us in”, barged into a secure office suite in the bowels
of the US capitol where Laura Cooper, a top Pentagon official who
oversees Ukraine policy, was preparing to testify.
The chaos and confusion temporarily shut down the proceedings before
the three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry as
Republicans tweeted updates of the disruption from their cellphones,
which are not typically permitted in classified areas. Their presence in
the chamber reportedly erupted into yelling matches with committee members.
Scott Thuman
(@ScottThuman)
WATCH: here's the video of when 2 dozen GOP members, led by @mattgaetz entered the secure hearing room (SCIF) to interrupt witness testimony in the #ImpeachmentInquiry as they demand access, despite not being committee members. They're complaining it's a "Soviet-style process". pic.twitter.com/8KddYz3r9D
“BREAKING: I led over 30 of my colleagues into the SCIF where Adam
Schiff is holding secret impeachment depositions. Still inside – more
details to come,” tweeted Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican congressman
and one of Donald Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, referring to
secured areas of the Capitol known as Sensitive Compartmented
Information Facilities, or SCIFs, and Schiff, the Democratic chairman of
the House intelligence committee leading the Trump-Ukraine impeachment
inquiry.
The Republicans who led the protest do not sit on the committees
involved in the impeachment inquiry – Intelligence, Oversight and
Reform, and Foreign Affairs – and are not permitted to attend. Members
of those committees already include Republican members of Congress, as
well as Democrats,
and both parties attend and ask questions at the hearings, whether
public or, as in this case, closed to the public and the press.
But the members who staged protest on Wednesday have sought to attack
the inquiry on procedural grounds, objecting to the private nature of
the hearings and demanding access to the full breadth of the testimony
that has rattled Washington in recent weeks.
Much of the testimony that has been made public, however, and news reports confirm key elements of a whistleblower complaint that set in motion
the impeachment inquiry. The investigation centers on reports of Donald
Trump withholding military aid and dangling a meeting at the White
House for Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in return for favors that would benefit him in domestic US politics.
Could Donald Trump actually be impeached? – video
The invading Republicans remained in the hearing room into the early afternoon and even ordered pizza and fast food.
“Reporting from Adam Schiff’s secret chamber,” Republican congressman
Andy Biggs began, in a series of tweets from inside the room. Biggs has
accused Democrats of conducting a “Soviet-style” impeachment inquiry
and demanded the testimony be made available to all lawmakers.
“When Republican members were in the SCIF, Chairman Schiff immediately left with the witness,” he tweeted. Biggs later clarified
that he had “transmitted” to aides for publication, as the use of
electronic devices in the secure area violates security protocols.
More than five hours after the standoff began, committee members were recalled to the room and Cooper’s deposition began.
Democrats were furious and, suggested the timing – days after Trump called on Republicans to “get tougher and fight” the impeachment inquiry amid mounting evidence of misconduct – was no coincidence.
“This is a stunt that corresponded very specifically to the
president’s complaint that they weren’t fighting hard enough for him,
and in direct response to devastating testimony yesterday from
Ambassador Taylor,” Democratic congressman David Cicilline, a member of
the House foreign affairs committee, said. “Republicans are playing to
an audience of one, and the president’s proud of them, but we’re going
to continue to do all the work.”
It was unclear if Republicans would attempt to disrupt future hearings.
“Their frustration was boiling over,” said Republican congressman Lee
Zeldin, also on the foreign affairs committee, one of the three panels
leading the inquiry. “I would imagine things would get worse not better
if the process doesn’t improve.”
The dramatic escalation by Republicans on Capitol Hill came after Bill Taylor, the most senior US diplomat in Kyiv, testified for hours before House investigators on Tuesday, delivering an account
that was so shocking to some lawmakers freshman Democrat Andy Levin
described it as “my most disturbing day in Congress so far – very
troubling”.
In a lengthy opening statement, Taylor said Trump wanted
“everything”, including military aid to Ukraine, tied to a commitment by
Ukrainian leaders to investigate Democrats and the 2016 election plus a
company linked to the family of Trump’s leading 2020 Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
Taylor said Trump “wanted President Zelenskiy ‘in a public box’ by
making a public statement about ordering such investigations”.
Trump emerged briefly on Wednesday to declare victory in enforcing what he called a “permanent” ceasefire
along the northern Syrian border, after his abrupt withdrawal of US
troops effectively opened the door for a Turkish offensive against
Kurdish-led forces in that region, leaving scores of civilians and
fighters dead and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.
Trump, who has denied wrongdoing in the impeachment inquiry, spent
the morning on Twitter downplaying the investigation’s findings,
including Taylor’s explosive testimony. He did not address the
impeachment issues or take any questions after delivering his statement
on Syria.
Later, leaving the White House for Pittsburgh to speak at a fracking
conference, Trump was unusually quiet when heading to the Marine One
helicopter on the lawn.
Meanwhile a report emerged noting that as early as 7 May the newly
elected Zelenskiy told senior aides he was already worried about
pressure from Trump to investigate his Democratic rivals.
Zelenskiy’s group of advisers spent most of a three-hour meeting
talking about how to navigate the insistence from Trump and his personal
lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for such an investigation, and how to avoid
becoming entangled in the American elections, according to three people
familiar with the details of the meeting.
Among the many defenses the White House has offered is that Ukraine had not been aware that Trump was withholding military aid that Congress approved unless it launched two investigations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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