In a tawdry impersonation of the radical Occupy movement, about 30 Republican congressmen on Wednesday abased themselves, brought dishonor to the House of Representatives, and put national security at risk. Each one of the GOP protesters merits an official reprimand from the full House.
The representatives stormed into a specially secured hearing room to block a meeting of the House Intelligence Committee. They are protesting the way majority House Democrats are conducting the presidential impeachment process. It must be said that the representatives were making a good point — the process breaks precedent and is unfair — but they made it in a way akin to drugged up college ruffians “sitting in” at the university president’s office, rather than with respect for the institution or the constituents they serve.
Their behavior was not only puerile, but infantile. For starters, they yelled at House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, in essence chased Pentagon official Laura Cooper from the room, and then apparently thought it would be cute to order pizza. Okay, so that’s pretty lousy behavior for grown-ups, but then some of them also entered with cell phones, which is a dangerous security breach when working in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility — a hearing room particularly designed to protect classified briefings. As my colleague Tom Rogan explains, their histrionics could give China, Russia, and other adversaries a chance to penetrate American security systems.
For decades, Republicans have been known as the party of law and order and, following the lead of then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan in the 1960s, have denounced virtually every protest movement that involved physically taking illicit control of rooms or spaces. Likewise, as the self-styled pro-defense party, the GOP from time immemorial has loudly denounced security breaches. Now, here these House members were violating both of those tenets of responsible behavior.
Note that Republicans already had a full complement of members inside the hearing room, and that only those Democrats who are on the committee were allowed in the room.
The Republicans who disrupted the hearing were in no worse position than any non-House Intelligence Committee Democrat. And it’s not as if House members don’t talk to each other, after the hearings, about specifics of the proceedings. Even if the process isn’t quite fair in the short run, it’s not as if Republicans won’t have ample opportunity to examine evidence and make their cases on behalf of President Trump later on.
In sum, this was a cheap publicity stunt. It was way out of proportion to the unfairness they are protesting, grossly in violation of House rules, and at least somewhat a threat to national security. A well-timed press conference outside the secure room would have been fine. The disruption of the hearing was neither fine, nor even remotely acceptable. It’s the most serious breach of House decorum I’ve seen in my 40 years of caring what happens on the Hill. It must not go unpunished.
