4 odd details from the House GOP's bizarre anti-impeachment SCIF sit-in


On Wednesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) led about 40 fellow House Republicans into a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) being used to depose witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Some of the Republicans brought cellphones into the secure room, a big no-no.
Their five-hour sit-in, which included a pizza party, delayed but did not derail the testimony of Pentagon official Laura Cooper, who spent about three hours with impeachment investigators after the Occupy SCIF crew left.
The performance was meant to highlight the GOP's attacks on the process House Democrats are using to gather preliminary information, a process that has already produced some damaging revelations about Trump's Ukraine dealings. Here are four odd details from Wednesday's bizarre circus:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
1. A third of the occupiers had the right to be in the room already
Despite Republican complaints that this is a secret partisan inquiry, 48 Republicans and 59 Democrats are on the three committees allowed to attend and participate in the impeachment depositions — including 13 of the Republicans who "stormed" the SCIF, by journalist Marcy Wheeler's count.
2. The Republicans reportedly wanted to be arrested
Democrats considered having Capitol Police arrest the unauthorized Republicans, but they decided against it, The Washington Post reports. Nevertheless, some of the Republicans "asked to be arrested," Fox News' Chad Pegram reports, thinking "the optic of being frog-marched out of the SCIF in front of TV cameras" would help advance the "GOP narrative."
3. Gaetz really wanted the footage
"In a 'look-at-me' move that's almost too on the nose, Gaetz also broke House rules Wednesday when his staff handed out expired congressional passes to some uncredentialed reporters and the crew of HBO's The Swamp," HuffPost reports. "The show is following Gaetz's efforts to combat the impeachment process."
4. Trump apparently knew and approved
Trump hosted about 30 House Republicans on Tuesday and told them to be more "tough" in defending him against impeachment, Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) said. The "lawmakers shared their plans to storm into the secure room," Bloomberg News reports, and "Trump supported the action." Cooper was the first Pentagon official to defy a directive not to testify, joining State Department and former National Security officials.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations