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'Brazen' Matt Gaetz Leads GOP Lawmakers on a Protest for Impeachment Transparency

October 24, 2019 - 8:00am
Matt Gaetz leads GOP charge against impeachment secrecy
Matt Gaetz leads GOP charge against impeachment secrecy

As the contentious impeachment effort continues in the U.S. House of Representatives, one Florida Congressman is spearheading an effort to open up the process for public display.

On Wednesday morning, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise at his side, held a press conference in the basement of the Capitol Building, outside of the closed-door committee room where the House Democrats are conducting their baseless impeachment inquiry in the shadows of democracy. 

Dozens of Republican members of Congress joined, including Florida Reps. Michel Waltz, Bill Posey and Ross Spano, calling for transparency in their witch hunt against President Trump.

Once the GOP members entered the hearing room, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff went to the sergeant-at-arms to ask how to deal with the interruption. One issue was the SCIF chamber is a secure location where electronic devices are not permitted, and some of the members who entered were spotted with phones and smart watches. But the move was designed to highlight the actions of Schiff and his Democratic allies, who have been manipulating the process and controlling the dissemination of what information they have obtained.

This is an especially ironic series of events given that, for the longest time, Schiff has been a loud proponent of transparency, demanding for years during the Russian collusion that all evidence be revealed and documents released, for the good of public knowledge. He even gave voice to this demand in the early stages of this Ukrainian call/whistleblower event. However, things have suddenly shifted on this front. 

There have been numerous instances in this latest call for impeachment in which Adam Schiff has changed his narrative, a sure sign that the facts they insist are there have not materialized. First, there was the claim that President Trump threatened the Ukrainian leader; then the appearance of a quid pro quo arrangement was deemed impeachable. Both accusations have eroded from headlines. Schiff, then, in a live hearing, gave a false reading of content he claimed was in the phone transcript -- but later declared that what he engaged in was “parody”. 

Now, after long declaring he had no prior knowledge of the whistleblower’s claims, we have come to learn that there had been meetings between Schiff, his staff, and the whistleblower weeks prior to their report being submitted. Since this revelation Schiff -- the loud proponent of transparency in D.C. -- has been nothing but evasive in the details. He has suggested the whistleblower does not need to testify nor face questioning, and has even said their testimony is no longer necessary, as the call transcript is sufficient. He has conducted interviews in hearings behind closed doors, and has been shutting out Republican figures from hearings.

It was last week when Matt Gaetz was escorted out of one impeachment meeting when Schiff declared that he had no standing because he was not a member of an approved committee. When Fiona Hill was testifying last week, Gaetz was ordered to leave because the hearing was conducted by those on the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees. Gaetz is not a member of those. 

But, as he pointed out following his ouster, Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, started the impeachment process in the first place. Gaetz does sit on that committee. So, by this logic, Schiff approves of the process originating in Judiciary, but the members have no standing in the process going forward.

The Florida Democratic Party issued a rebuttal letter in the wake of this action. "Matt Gaetz, along with fellow Florida Rep. Ross Spano and with the blessing of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, barged into a secure room designed to allow members of Congress to be briefed on classified and sensitive information," the Dems wrote. "Storming the room was widely condemned and has alarmed national security experts." 

Sounds drastic, all the "storming" and "barging," until you see the video of the group walking very slowly and ambling their way into the chamber. 

Of course, the dramatic interpretations from the Democrats and the press differ greatly from the interpretations of similar actions when Nancy Pelosi and several major Dems staged a sit-in back in 2016 during the gun debate. That was hailed in the media as a brave stance taken by noble leaders.

There's been wide coverage of the Wednesday morning stand-in, but what remains to be seen is if this will shed any media light on the actions of Adam Schiff in the past few weeks. He has manipulated and contorted the process in an effort to generate enough momentum to get an impeachment in the works. So far, the press has ignored how many times he has changed his story and clouded the process by altering the parameters and holding hidden meetings. 

Wednesday’s actions have at least highlighted some of this. Maybe it will provoke Schiff, the man who calls for transparency, to be more open with his actions and any findings he manages to collect.

Brad Slager, a Fort Lauderdale freelance writer, wrote this story exclusively for Sunshine State News. He writes on politics and the industry and his stories appear in such publications as RedState and The Federalist.

Comments

Slight correction. I believe there are actually 47 Republicans on the three committees conducting the impeachment inquiry, along with the 55 Democrats you've mentioned. Flunkies like Gaetz and Jordan have taken over the Republican Party and have become the 'enforcers' of the Trumpolini crime family. Time for this particular iteration of the Republican Party to be eliminated completely in the 2020 election.

I will win I tell you! I will! Then I will be able to tell everybody what to do. Oh yes I will. You'll see.

Lies straight from the "washington compost" of left-wing propaganda

Good for you Rep Gaetz. We all had enough of this Schiff.... Question for the legal minds out there. If Democrats can keep running to obama picked bias judge in order to block the President from making progress, then why can't Rep Gaetz and the Republicans get a Federal judge to end this Schiff?

Gaetz is an embarrassment. Maybe he and his fellow raiders should read the house rules.While at it they should also read the constitution.

We all know that the democRAT party is a terrorist organization.

Gaetz, repub illegally entered a secured room against House rules disrupting a classified briefing that had an equal number of repub members, lawyers asking anything they wanted, is just a stunt and an illegal one. ……...…….I expect they will be brought up on charges and censored for this bad stunt and should be...……It is all recorded, transcripted and it'll all come out except classified parts soon and there will be public hearings once the evidence is gathered by repubs too…......…….Fact is Trump is guilty as hell as his tweets alone prove and they only thing they can do is lie about process since near impossible to defend Trump's actions...…….Repubs use to be decent people for the most part but now most repub pols can't do anything but lie all the time because factually they have nothing to stand on.........……...What happened to you all?...................There is nothing fiscally or morally conservative in this action, just mostly lies....................And by the posts here, proud of it.

"Fiscally"??? You just have your word processor set to BLATHER now, don't you?

Sorry but is that too big a word for you?......…...Note Trump has doubled the deficit to $1T/yr to pay for the tax cut to the rich adding $3T in just 3 yrs to the national debt...…...And for that the economy did better under Obama who cut the repub deficit by more than 50% with no help from repubs.……….You know being fiscally responsible?…….And in good economic times when one is suppose to pay the debt down Trump, Bush raised barrowing on our kids....…...…….You know actually being fiscally conservative which I am and repub haven't been since 1980.

Transformation is the truth of ecstasy, and of us. You and I are dreamers of the stratosphere. The cosmos is overflowing with sonar energy. By redefining, we believe. To engage with the mission is to become one with it.

Democrat politicians are illegal. GAETZ was never illegal. First of all, is part of Nadlers pact and Nadler had started the "FAKE" impeachment . There is no impeachment evolving. There has been no criminal information provided to Shit, because Shit would have released the info to the press. Trump will stump you, all for our Freedoms and Ideals. Tell us your Socialist name?

You apparently got a real bad mix of medications going on there, Woody! Check with your doc!

Actually that was Pelosi. She can't even get off the Schiff'er

A prime example why Repubs will lose next election as they did in 2018 only worse as just so, so delusional...…………….Why do repubs so easily believe such lies?......…......…...Trump will be impeached on multiple counts in an open trail...……...Whether the Senate convicts him is another story...……..Not only Trump but most of his crew including Barr are likely to get charges for breaking various laws, especially obstruction, lying..................The NY Bar has already warned Barr is on thin ice doing illegal things or lose his lawyer license from it.

Science has shown that people identifying as Democrat very often have enlarged amygdalas and, among other things, that tends to make them irrationally emotional and often promotes paranoia.

What difference, at this point, does it make?

Science has shown that people identifying as Republican very often have enlarged amygdalas and, among other things, that tends to make them irrationally emotional and often promotes paranoia.

Where there is suffering, joy cannot thrive. You may be ruled by stagnation without realizing it. Do not let it destroy the nature of your circuit. Without understanding, one cannot vibrate. The goal of electromagnetic forces is to plant the seeds of serenity rather than selfishness. You and I are messengers of the nexus.

The Vote button on your Poll doesn’t work

We're all proud of you Rep. Matt Gaetz!

Speak for yourself, Bobbi! Plenty of us believe that Gaetz is El Jerko Numero Uno!

You can say that again!

"That"

A few hours prior to crashing the basement lair of the evil villain Shifty Schiff our super hero Matt Gaetz addresses his band of Republican Brothers. Men I had an itch in my tightie whities and while groping myself around down there located my long lost Republican Testicals!!! What say we all try to locate our long lost Republican Testicles and crash Shifty Schiff's party???

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