Republicans disrupt inquiry deposition
Graham tweets against action; later backs it
WASHINGTON — Republicans briefly brought the Democrat-led impeachment investigation to a halt Wednesday when around two dozen GOP House members stormed into a closed-door deposition with a Defense Department official.
Democrats said the move compromised national security because some of the Republicans brought electronic devices into a secure room.
The maneuver delayed a deposition with Laura Cooper, a senior Defense Department official who oversees Ukraine policy, until midafternoon.
The interview began roughly five hours behind schedule, after a security check by Capitol officials, and ended after roughly four hours.
As a series of diplomats have been interviewed in the impeachment probe, many Republicans have been outspoken about their disdain for Democrats and the impeachment process.
“The members have just had it, and they want to be able to see and represent their constituents and find out what’s going on,” said Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform panel.
That committee is one of three leading the investigation, and its members are allowed into the closed-door hearings.
Lawmakers described a chaotic scene. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-fla., said she had just walked into the room when the Republican lawmakers blew past Capitol police officers and Democratic staffers.
Later when the deposition began, Cooper answered questions from lawmakers and staffers in response to a subpoena.
She explained to lawmakers the process of distributing military aid and was asked whether the appropriate steps were followed on Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the interview.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., criticized his Republican colleagues for the tactic, calling them “nuts” to make a “run on the SCIF,” also known as the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. “That’s not the way to do it,” he said.
Graham later tweeted that he initially believed Republicans had taken the room by force and that it was actually a “peaceful protest,” adding his House GOP colleagues had “good reason to be upset.”
The Republicans who took part in the protest were unbowed.
Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said Democrats are running a “Soviet-style process” that should “not be allowed in the United States of America.”
“We’re not going to be bullied,” he said.