WASHINGTON — It was a wild scene on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, when at least three Georgia Republicans and a couple of dozen other GOP House members crashed the closed-door impeachment hearings, demanding that the Democrat leadership conduct the hearings in public.
But Democrats accused the Republicans of grandstanding in order to divert attention away from what the hearings may be revealing about the President’s actions.
Was the sit-in merely political theater? Or was it a principled protest?
The Republican House members who invaded and disrupted the closed-door impeachment hearings at the Capitol—hearings led by Democrat Adam Schiff—included Republicans Buddy Carter from southeast Georgia, Jody Hice from the Athens area, and Rick Allen from Augusta.
Hice is actually one of the members allowed to take part in the hearings involving three House Committees; he is a member of one of those committees – but he joined the demonstrators.
He posted a video of himself on his Twitter feed, saying, “I just stepped out of Adam Schiff’s dungeon ... Fortunately, some Republicans with some spine and some guts have stormed into the deposition today demanding that they have a right to hear what’s happening, demanding that the American people have a right to hear what’s taking place when it comes to the impeachment of the President of the United States.”
Democrats have said the hearings are secret so each witness will not know what previous witnesses have said. And Democrats have promised to release transcripts after the hearings are over.
But Republicans say the Democrats end up leaking information from the daily, secret depositions—and leak only the testimony that Democrats believe will hurt the President.
Rep. Buddy Carter, (R) GA-1, on his Twitter feed Wednesday called the proceedings that he helped shut down for a few hours a sham.
"Adam Schiff got up and walked away," he said. "That’s what cowards do. They get up and walk away, and that’s what he did."
“What are the Republicans so afraid of from on-going testimony that they want to interrupt it?” asked Rep. Katherine Clark, (D) MA-5, during an interview Wednesday on MSNBC. “When they cannot explain the President’s conduct, they want to focus on this sort of political theater. And it’s really shameful behavior.”
After about five hours, the Republican demonstrators left, and the closed-door impeachment inquiries resumed.
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