House Jokers Jeopardize National Security, and Trump Approves

In Defying the Odds, we discuss Trump's character and record of dishonesty. The update -- recently published --includes a chapter on the 2018 midterms.

Jenny McGrath at Digital Trends:

It’s called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (pronounced skiff), and it has a no-phone rule. A group of Republican lawmakers may have violated that rule when they stormed a closed-door hearing Wednesday, October 23, allegedly bringing in cell phones.

“The facilities are carefully designed and controlled to ensure that electronic signals, surveillance methods, or other listening devices do not compromise the information discussed in these rooms,” tweeted Mieke Eoyang, a former staff member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She notes that hackers can turn on a cell’s microphones without their owners’ knowledge.

Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, was scheduled to testify in front of the bipartisan House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees. Some of the Republicans who disrupted the hearing tweeted about being in the room, then later said their staff members were sending the messages for them. In one video, though, Rep. Alex Mooney appears to be holding a phone up as he walks into the SCIF.

So, to recap:

To disrupt testimony from a DOD official on how the President endangered national security for both the US and Ukraine by withholding military aid, the President's allies further endangered national security by storming the SCIF with their electronic devices.

— Mieke Eoyang (@MiekeEoyang) October 23, 2019

Ar least some of Republican SCIF crashers met with Trump yesterday, where they outlined a plan to crash the hearing, according to several people familiar with the matter. Trump supported the action, saying he wanted the transcripts released. https://t.co/Q28mDG1OZS

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 23, 2019

What's so amazing here - Trump's planning with @RepMattGaetz, @RepAndyBiggsAZ, @RepMarkWalker and the other Merry Morons to storm a SCIF constitutes another impeachable offense - conspiracy to violate 32 CFR Parts 2001 and 2004.

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 23, 2019