On Wednesday, at least two dozen Republican representatives made their way to the room, where three House of Representatives committees have been conducting a probe into the Ukrainian case for a few weeks.
The testimony of the head of the Pentagon responsible for the Russian and Ukrainian case, Laura Cooper, could not begin until around 15:30, more than five hours late.
Before entering the hall, violating the rules of the Congress, the elected officials led by the Florida representative Matt Gaetz chanted several times: “Let us enter!” They then refused to leave the premises for several hours.
Many of these Republicans commented live on Twitter protesting, for example, to be in the “secret room” of the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, at the head of the investigation.
For security reasons, the use of cell phones is forbidden in this room devoted to discussions on highly sensitive or classified information.
These pro-Trump Republican representatives, who are not part of the three committees responsible for the investigation – those in charge of intelligence, foreign affairs and government oversight – have accused the Democrats of lacking transparency and wanting to cancel the outcome. of the 2016 presidential election.
It is a Soviet-style process. It should not be allowed in the United States of America. Every congressman should have the right to be in this room.
Steve Scalise, Republican Representative of Louisiana
The Republican coup of the conservative wing of the party came on the heels of the explosive testimony of senior US diplomat in Kyiv, Bill Taylor, who reported significant efforts by Trump administration officials to from Ukraine investigations that would benefit the US president.
Republican protesters, some of whom had participated in a meeting with the president on Tuesday, had been approved, according to the Bloomberg news site.
Tuesday at a meeting of his cabinet, Donald Trump criticized the opposition he considers too shy of the Republicans to the investigation, saying they should be tougher and fight .
Worthy of a circus, according to Democrats
The Democrats blamed the pathetic and circus-like approach of their opponents.
It is an effort to slow down our quest to get the truth and gather evidence. Republicans, you know, play for an audience of one person. The president is proud of them, but we will continue to carry out our work.
David Cicilline, Democratic Representative of Rhode Island
Democrats have also indicated that transcripts of all evidence would be made public, with the exception of classified information, and that there would be public hearings after this initial phase of the investigation.
Moreover, nothing has filtered out of Ms. Cooper’s testimony. According to Democratic representative Harley Rouda, she did not make an opening statement, unlike previous witnesses.
According to the Washington Post, his testimony should shed light on the Defense Department’s discussions regarding the allocation of $391 million worth of military aid to Ukraine, which President Trump froze during Several weeks.
Ms. Cooper also had to discuss the Pentagon report on the relevance and effectiveness of this security assistance, written after the aid freeze. The White House released the funds last month under pressure from both parties.
Trump serves a warning to Republicans
“The anti-Trump Republicans, though under artificial respirators and few, are in some ways worse and more dangerous for our country than the Democrats who do not care. Beware of them, they are rubbish!,” he said on Twitter Wednesday in a barrage of tweets.
He also seemed to be veiled targeting one of his strongholds, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who appointed Bill Taylor to head the US diplomatic delegation to Ukraine. Calling the diplomat “anti-Trump,”, he urged members of his administration to stop hiring anti-Trump .
Democrats launched their investigation into the president in the wake of a whistleblower’s complaint that sounded the alarm over a telephone conversation between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, on July 25. They accuse the president of having sought the interference of a foreign country in the US elections of 2020.
As confirmed by a report of the White House’s appeal , Trump asked the new Ukrainian president to look into the origins of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election in 2016. He also asked him to investigate former Vice President and Democratic nomination candidate Joe Biden.
The call was made by President Trump a few days after the freeze on military aid approved by Congress.
Cindy Kerr is a reporter for The Social Business News Kat has previously interned at VICE and worked as a reporter for MSNBC.