Well, this happened:
On Wednesday, about 30 Republicans successfully got into the secure location in the Capitol basement where the impeachment inquiry is taking place, as a Pentagon official involved in overseeing the Ukraine aid in question was about to start testifying. They held up the hearing, bringing their phones and taking photos in what is supposed to be a secure location for classified information. And they tweeted about it a lot, making sure news cameras captured it all. Democrats were considering bringing in Capitol Police.Unable to argue facts, the worst of the worst rotted- out Republican thugs in the House staged their disruptive "Brooks Brothers riot 2.0" today (supported and encouraged by Trump), to make an invalid point about process. We're talking about some of the worst people ever to occupy space in Congress, Trump lapdogs like Reps. Matt "DUI" Gaetz, Louie "Screwie" Gohmert, Mark "Election Fraud" Walker, and Steve "David Duke Without Baggage" Scalise. These aren't "secret" hearings. Any Republican on one of the three committees involved in the hearing are free to attend; it's these Trump cultist non- committee members who are barred due to longstanding House rules. But these are weasels who operate in bad faith as a matter of course, and they need to suffer consequences and not be allowed near the hearing room again. And why "consider" bringing in the Capitol Police? Get it done, or expect more disruption and delay from these hacks.
Here's an explainer from a cybersecurity expert who knows about the secure room why this stunt was a serious breach of security:
The facilities are carefully designed and controlled to ensure that electronic signals, surveillance methods, or other listening devices do not compromise the information discussed in these rooms. I will not, for obvious reasons, go into details.— Mieke Eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) October 23, 2019
Bringing electronic devices into a SCIF, and this SCIF in particular is *very* problematic, especially when done by members of Congress.— Mieke Eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) October 23, 2019
Because Members of Congress (and their electronic devices) are high-value targets for compromise by foreign intelligence services.
After an incident like this happens, countermeasures have to be taken to ensure the SCIF is not compromised. It is a time-consuming, technical process, which again, I will not discuss.— Mieke Eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) October 23, 2019
But in "storming the SCIF" without observing the security protocols, Rep. Gaetz et al, endangered our national security & demonstrated they care more about a political stunt than protecting intelligence information.— Mieke Eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) October 23, 2019
I cannot emphasize enough how serious this is.
You should take a few moments to read the entire thread. At least they left their tiki torches at home.
BONUS: Meanwhile, the body of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, the exact opposite of these neo-fascist thugs as someone with character, honesty, decency and patriotism, lay in repose at Morgan State University, an Historically Black College and University. There couldn't be a greater contrast.
BONUS II: Hot off the presses --
(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)
BONUS III: For anyone not familiar with the "Brooks Brothers Riot," here's a picture showing how, when they were counting the hanging chads in Florida in 2000, a "spontaneous outburst of the common people of Florida" came out to shut down the recount while Dumbya was marginally ahead (click to enlarge) --
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| (Attribution: Mrs. Betty Bowers) |
(Photo: Getty Images)
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