WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC News) – Dozens of House Republicans stormed into a secure, closed-door impeachment deposition Wednesday, derailing testimony from a top Pentagon official.
The protest violated House rules, which only allow members to participate in depositions if they serve on the committees holding them. Many carried cell phones into the SCIF, or Sensitive Compartment Information Facility, where the deposition was being held. Electronic devices are not permitted in the SCIF and the Representatives were forced to surrender their devices after entering.
The protesting Republicans, who don’t sit on the committees conducting the investigation, said they were coming to the president’s defense one day after Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine revealed damaging evidence of a political quid-pro-quo.
“They’re freaked out, they’re trying to stop this investigation,” Rep. Ted Lieu said. “They know more facts are going to be delivered that are absolutely damning to the President of the United States.”
Ambassador Taylor told House investigators he was told that in order to receive military aid Ukraine’s president had to “go to a microphone and say he is opening investigations of Biden and 2016 election interference.”
The White House dismissed Taylor’s testimony, calling it “more triple hearsay.”
Read more: https://nbcnews.to/2pPLRMg
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.