周三发生了戏剧性的一幕，数十名众议院共和党人停止了一名政府官员的证词，这名官员在闯入一间安全房间以寻求更大的透明度后秘密作证，这是对唐纳德·特朗普总统弹劾调查的一部分。
在众议院少数党党鞭史蒂夫·斯卡利斯和马特·盖兹的带领下，几十名共和党议员进入国会大厦的一个机密区域，负责监督美国对俄罗斯、乌克兰和欧亚大陆政策的五角大楼高级官员劳拉·库珀在那里作证。
只有众议院情报、监督和外交事务委员会的成员——领导调查的小组——才被允许参加在所谓的“SCIF:敏感的隔离信息设施”中举行的闭门会议。这意味着将近50名共和党成员——或者说大约四分之一的众议院共和党人——有能力出席。有些人还可以询问证人。
但在弹劾调查中，现任和前任政府高级官员都提供了私人证词，共和党人一直批评民主党人的程序保密，并呼吁提高透明度，见证证词和笔录。然而，针对乌克兰丑闻的具体指控为特朗普辩护，在共和党人中并不那么受欢迎。
周三，未经授权的共和党人试图进入SCIF听取证人证词，这是自上周以来的第二次，也是之后的第二次特朗普指责共和党议员“变得更强硬、更努力”民主党的弹劾调查。
此举导致党派对峙，库珀的证词推迟了约5个小时。民主党人将其归咎于政治噱头，而共和党人则表示，他们已经走到尽头，证人在公共领域外作证。
有一次，共和党议员为记者订购了十几盒多米诺披萨，我们，披萨是他们自己的，他们显然是在占领SCIF时吃的。
众议院共和党人于10月23日在DC华盛顿国会山举行的记者招待会上聚集在一起发表讲话。
共和党人第一次进入会议室时，在场的民主党议员描绘了一幅有点混乱的景象。
众议员格里·康诺利(民主党-退伍军人事务部)说，共和党人“冲进”房间，一些人，如众议员路易·戈默特(共和党-退伍军人事务部)和布拉德利·布莱恩(共和党-退伍军人事务部)，实质上是在对非法弹劾程序大喊大叫。
众议员迈克·奎格利(民主党)说，共和党人“强行进入”房间，据称其中一些人随后拍照或拍摄。
SCIF严禁使用手机等电子设备，这让奎格利可以说他的共和党对手对调查过程“不尊重”。他还表示，是否对进来的共和党成员提出众议院道德投诉，将由领导层决定。
几位议员后来证实，官员们不得不打扫房间寻找设备，以确保其安全。
监督委员会的高级成员吉姆·乔丹(共和党众议员)承认，他的一些共和党同事带着手机走进房间，后来被熟悉SCIF规则的其他共和党人收集。
“他们不应该那样做，但是他们不习惯这样，”乔丹说。“这是个错误，所以没什么大不了的。他们现在明白了，不会再发生了。”
乔丹说，他和他的共和党同伴在这个过程中“达到了沸点”，从而导致证词摊牌。
监督委员会成员马克·梅多斯(共和党)表示，他们没有与白宫协调努力。但是彭博报道则不然引用了周二白宫与几十名共和党人的会议，特朗普在会上签署了该计划。
民主党人认为，根据众议院的规定，他们的弹劾调查可以秘密进行。情报委员会主席亚当·希夫(Adam Schiff)议员发誓最终将举行一些公开听证会，并将一些信息和证词记录公之于众。
在a信获得者新闻周刊周三晚上，监督和情报小组的高级共和党人——分别来自俄亥俄州的吉姆·乔丹和加利福尼亚州的德文·努恩斯——再次呼吁希夫提高透明度，并让首次揭露乌克兰丑闻的匿名举报者在国会作证。
犹他州共和党众议员克里斯斯图尔特(Chris Stewart)表示，尽管该党可能被允许私下进行调查，但进行这种间接调查的方式是错误的。
“这可能符合众议院的规定。这不是问题，”斯图尔特说。"问题是，在秘密听证会上弹劾总统是个好主意吗？"
周二，美国驻乌克兰最高外交官比尔·泰勒在开场白中对议员们表示，特朗普扣留了约4亿美元的外国军事援助，旨在帮助乌克兰抗击俄罗斯的侵略，作为迫使乌克兰调查拜登家族和2016年选举干涉的交换条件之一。这些言论被民主党人视为确凿无疑的证据，他们声称特朗普的政治对手进行了交易。
REPUBLICANS STALL IMPEACHMENT TESTIMONY, TRY TO ACCESS SECURE ROOM IN DEMAND FOR TRANSPARENCY
Adramatic scene unfolded Wednesday when dozens of House Republicans halted the testimony of an administration official who was testifying behind closed doors as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump after storming a secure room in a bid for greater transparency.
Led by Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA)—the House minority whip—and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), dozens of GOP members entered a classified area of the Capitol building where the testimony of Laura Cooper, a top Pentagon official who oversees U.S. policy for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, was taking place.
Only members of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees—the panels spearheading the inquiry—are allowed to attend the closed-door proceedings being held in what's known as a SCIF: sensitive compartmented information facility. That means nearly 50 GOP members—or roughly one-fourth of House Republicans—have the ability to be present. Some can also question the witnesses.
But throughout the impeachment investigation that's featured private testimony from high-level current and former administration officials, Republicans have criticized Democrats for the secrecy of the process and called for greater transparency and to witness depositions and transcripts. Defending Trump against specific allegations of the Ukraine scandal has not, however, been as popular among Republicans.
Wednesday's attempt by unauthorized Republicans to enter the SCIF and hear a witness' testimony was the second time since last week and came after Trump scolded GOP lawmakers to "get tougher and fight" the Democrats' impeachment inquiry.
The move led to a partisan standoff that delayed Cooper's testimony for about 5 hours. Democrats chalked it up to a political stunt while Republicans indicated they were at their whit's end with witnesses testifying out of the public sphere.
At one point, GOP lawmakers ordered more than a dozen boxes of Dominoes Pizza for reporters and We, The Pizza for themselves, which they apparently ate while they occupied the SCIF.
House Republicans gather to speak at a press conference organized by Rep. Matt Gaetz, (R-FL), on Capitol Hill on October 23 in Washington, DC.Democratic lawmakers who were in the room when Republicans first gained access painted a picture of a somewhat chaotic scene that unfolded.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said the Republicans "stormed" into the room and that some, such as Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Bradley Bryne (R-AL), were essentially yelling about the illegitimate impeachment process.
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) said Republicans "pushed their way in" to the room, some of whom then allegedly took photos or filmed.
Electronic devices, such as cell phones, are strictly prohibited from the SCIF, lending Quigley to say his GOP counterparts "have no respect" for the inquiry process. He also said it would be up to leadership whether to file House ethics complaints against the GOP members who came in.
Several lawmakers later confirmed that officials had to sweep the room for devices to ensure it was secured.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the ranking member on Oversight, acknowledged that some of his GOP colleagues walked into the room with cell phones and that they were later collected by other Republicans familiar with the SCIF's rules.
"They shouldn't do that, but they're not used to this," Jordan said. "It was a mistake, so no big deal. They understand now and it won't happen again."
Jordan said that he and his fellow Republicans "reached a boiling point" with the process, thus leading to the testimony showdown.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), a member of Oversight, said they did not coordinate their efforts with the White House. But Bloomberg reported otherwise, citing a White House meeting with dozens of Republicans on Tuesday where Trump signed off on the plan.
Democrats have argued that their impeachment inquiry, under House rules, is permitted to be conducted behind closed doors. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has vowed to eventually hold some public hearings and make some of the information and testimony transcripts public.
In a letter obtained by Newsweek Wednesday evening, top Republicans on the Oversight and Intelligence panels—Jim Jordan of Ohio and Devin Nunes of California, respectively—again called on Schiff for more transparency and to have the anonymous whistleblower, who first broke the Ukraine scandal, testify before Congress.
One member, GOP Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah, suggested while it may be allowed to operate the inquiry in private, it was the wrong way to conduct such a consequential investigation.
"This may be within House rules. That's not the question," Stewart said. "The question is, is it a good idea to impeach the president in secret hearings?"
On Tuesday, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, said to lawmakers in his opening remarks that Trump withheld some $400 million in foreign military aid meant to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression as part of a quid pro quo to force the country to investigate the Biden family and 2016 election interference. Those remarks were viewed by Democrats, who've alleged a quid pro quo tied to Trump's political rivals took place, as a smoking gun.
