Dozens of House Republicans on Tuesday tried to force their way into a closed-door impeachment inquiry hearing, accusing Democrats of failing to conduct a fair and open investigation into President TrumpDonald John TrumpGraham to introduce resolution condemning House impeachment inquiry Support for impeachment inches up in poll Fox News’s Bret Baier calls Trump’s attacks on media ‘a problem’ MORE’s dealings with Ukraine.
Led by Trump ally Rep. Matt GaetzMatthew (Matt) GaetzLawmakers from both sides of the aisle mourn Cummings The Hill’s Morning Report – Tempers boil over at the White House Schiff says committees will eventually make impeachment inquiry transcripts public MORE (R-Fla.), the GOP lawmakers gathered outside the sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) in the Capitol basement in protest of how Democrats have been conducting the probe.
“We’re going to try to go in there and we’re going to try to figure out what’s going on on behalf of the millions of Americans that we represent,” said Gaetz, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
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“They want to see this Congress working for them and not obsessed with attacking a president who we believe has not done anything to deserve impeachment now.”
Wednesday’s hearing, featuring testimony from Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, was the second time this month Republicans have tried to demand entry to closed-door hearings on impeachment, which concern allegations that Trump withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine as leverage to get Kiev to investigate his political rivals.
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Republicans have repeatedly blasted Democrats for choosing to only allow members of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs committees to attend the hearings and depositions, arguing that the information and transcripts should be made available to all members given the gravity of the consequences of impeachment, and accusing them of leaking select information to the press.
House Minority Whip Steve ScaliseStephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseMcCarthy on Trump’s ‘lynching’ comparison: ‘That’s not the language I would use’ House rejects GOP measure censuring Schiff This week: Tensions flare over Schiff, impeachment inquiry MORE (R-La.) argued the media should have access to the hearings given that it doesn’t concern classified information, alleging Democrats are hiding facts that don’t fit their narrative.
“The fact that [Intelligence Committee Chairman] Adam SchiffAdam Bennett SchiffThe strange case of ‘Dr. Trump’ and ‘Mr. Tweet’ The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Trump faces backlash for comparing impeachment to ‘lynching’ House Republican: Schiff ‘should not be leading this whole inquiry’ MORE [D-Calif.] won’t even let the press in — you can’t even go in and see what’s going on in that room. Voting members of Congress are being denied access from being able to see what’s happening behind these closed doors, where they’re trying to impeach the president of the United States with a one-sided set of rules, they call the witnesses,” Scalise said at the press conference outside the SCIF.
“They don’t let anybody else call the witnesses. They don’t even let the president’s legal counsel question people who are making baseless allegations. Maybe in the Soviet Union this kind of thing is commonplace. This shouldn’t be happening in the United States of America.”
The criticisms come one day after Scalise led more than 50 GOP members in a floor speech rally railing against impeachment efforts.
On Monday, Trump pushed for the GOP to be more vocal in their defense of him as Democrats escalate their efforts.
“Republicans have to get tougher and fight,” he said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “We have some that are great fighters, but they have to get tougher and fight because the Democrats are trying to hurt the Republican Party for the election.”
Democrats have strongly defended how they’ve conducted the probe, accusing Republicans of attempting to distract from serious allegations against the president.
Democrats said the Tuesday testimony from William Taylor, the head of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, provided additional cause for alarm, stating Taylor believed the Trump administration was pushing for a quid pro quo with Ukraine withholding aide in exchange for an investigation into the Biden family.
Republicans have been quick to dismiss Democrats characterizing the testimony as a “game changer,” calling for the release of the entire transcript.
“We’ve had seven witnesses to date, I don’t think any of them have been the ones that the whistleblower, the so-called whistleblower, was referring to,” Oversight and Reform Committee ranking member Jim JordanJames (Jim) Daniel JordanTrump ‘lynching’ comparison draws backlash from lawmakers Trump urges GOP to fight for him Trump embarks on Twitter spree amid impeachment inquiry, Syria outrage MORE (R-Ohio.) said. “So we need to hear from them, and we need this done the open, so the American people can see.”