Nick wrote yesterday about how House Republicans who are frustrated by the secretive nature of the so-called “impeachment inquiry” process decided to stop talking about it and took action, storming the SCIF room where Schiff was conducting his show trial witness tampering witness questioning.
High drama, of course, ensued, with Schiff and Co. scurrying away with the witness while the fed up Republicans staged a sit-in, hoping to negotiate with Schiff for full access to witnesses and transcripts. Unfortunately they weren’t successful, but they did eat pretty good while in the midst of the stand-off.
One of the biggest “concerns” for Democrats and reporters who were present for the goings-on yesterday was whether or not any of the House Republicans and staffers who stormed the highly-secured area had taken any audio or video, which would be a no-no since cell phones are not allowed in the room:
The GOP's storming of the House Intel room (with cell phones in hand) has forced police to conduct a sweep for possible security breaches of what's supposed to be a secure room >>> https://t.co/lhAcoApSJA
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 23, 2019
One former CBS journalist in particular was enraged, and demanded serious action be take against the Republican “invaders”, including questioning them for possible foreign allegiances:
Every @GOP member who invaded the SCIF should be taken into custody by the Capitol Police & questioned by the FBI to determine if they're serving a foreign intelligence service. They should also be removed from the House until the investigation is completed & votes out of office. https://t.co/0qTPeyKiOV
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) October 23, 2019
Leavitt, an “award-winning multimedia journalist” according to his Twitter bio and whose credits include CBS (though he was never an employee), got read the riot act by Twitter users:
That’s deeply stupid. Carrying a phone into a SCIF is dumb, but it’s also an everyday security violation. Happens literally every day, and a first offense is cause for no more than a verbal reprimand.
— Will Collier (@willcollier) October 23, 2019
Just stringing words together doesn’t make it true. Why would the FBl be needed. FBl is not a weapon you use to punish people who protest.
— Tina Stull (@tinastullracing) October 23, 2019
That's okay, Schiff will just leak what he wants to anyways. Of course, he'll embellish the story that they stormed the gates with pitchforks and torches and he was there stalwartly defending democracy.
— E_something, something (@bearcats03) October 23, 2019
The PRC would love to have a guy like you on board.
— Burisma Board Job Applicant. (@ATxFellow) October 23, 2019
Right after we do that for the media.
— El Jefe (@ElJefeTulum) October 23, 2019
CNN national security/legal analyst Susan Hennessey, who is no fan of Republicans, wrote a Twitter thread noting that in the scheme of things, Republicans bringing their phones into the SCIF was not really much of a “security compromise.” That probably won’t be enough for David Leavitt types, but then again really nothing would be for Club Resistance™.
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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 16+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
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