Pentagon’s Ukraine expert resumes impeachment testimony after House Republicans’ protest

WASHINGTON - The planned impeachment testimony from a Pentagon official responsible for Ukraine policy resumed Wednesday afternoon after several of President Donald Trump's congressional allies staged a demonstration against the probe and barged into a secure facility on Capitol Hill, causing a more than five-hour delay.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper was due to speak at 10 a.m. in closed testimony focused on the mechanics of U.S. security assistance for Ukraine and fallout from the White House's decision to withhold it for several months. But conservative lawmakers disrupted her session as it was about to begin, refusing to leave the secure room where impeachment witnesses have met with lawmakers.

The demonstration marked the latest attempt by Republicans to discredit the probe into whether Trump ordered the hold on military aid to pressure Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, into launching investigations that would benefit Trump politically. It follows explosive testimony Tuesday from a key U.S. diplomat, who detailed for impeachment investigators how he was told that Trump had made release of the aid package contingent on a public pledge by Zelensky to investigate the Biden family and the 2016 U.S. election, undercutting Trump's repeated denials of a quid pro quo.

Trump's allies on Capitol Hill have sought to ease pressure on the White House by launching a coordinated messaging campaign against the Democratic-led inquiry, painting it as a secretive attempt to force the president from office. Republicans have decried the closed-door format for witness depositions, aimed at preventing speakers from coordinating their testimony, and the decision to limit participation to members of three House committees, a choice consistent with congressional leaders' past approach to sensitive investigations.

Republicans on the three panels - the Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees - have been permitted to attend the depositions and ask questions. Some of those who barged in ahead of Cooper's testimony are not members of those committees.

Democrats have said they will open the process for public hearings in a matter of weeks after the initial stage of their investigation concludes. On Wednesday, the three Democratic chairmen leading the impeachment inquiry sent a letter to the State Department with a fresh demand for documents already subpoenaed that have not been turned over.

It was not immediately clear how the standoff at the Capitol was resolved. Democrats debated asking the Capitol Police to physically remove the GOP members but decided against it, fearing that such a dramatic move would play into Republicans' hands, several lawmakers said.

At least 20 Republicans continued to occupy the room - called a SCIF, short for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility - around 1:45 p.m., GOP aides said. A large number exited just after 2 p.m. to attend votes.

As their protest entered its fifth hour on Wednesday, supporters gave no indication that the effort was close to over. The members "plan to stay there until we have a more open and transparent and fair process," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a prominent conservative lawmaker and close ally of the president.

The demonstration was led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., one day after members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus met with Trump at the White House. The president urged the group - his steadfast allies - to be "tough" because Democrats are "fighting dirty and have been fighting dirty" and that "maybe it's time to take the gloves off," according to Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., who attended.

Trump on Tuesday also likened the impeachment inquiry to a "lynching" on Twitter, drawing condemnation from Democrats and several Republicans.

A senior GOP aide said Wednesday that the protest had the blessing of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and was originally scheduled for last week, before the death of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., caused the group to change its plans. Cummings was chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

The standoff brought unexpected drama to a day which lawmakers expected to be fairly quiet.

Before Cooper's testimony was to begin, about two dozen conservative Republican members led by Gaetz gathered near the deposition room to protest what they described as Democrats' secretive approach to the inquiry. Several accused Democratic leaders of trying to undo the 2016 election result, rallying behind a talking point promoted by House GOP leaders.

"If behind those doors, they intend to overturn the result of an American presidential election, we want to know what's going on," Gaetz said, accusing Democrats of being "obsessed with attacking a president who we believe has not done anything to deserve impeachment."

The group walked into the restricted area en masse, and chants of "let us in" were heard from outside.

A shouting match ensued between Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and some Democrats in the room, according to Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., who witnessed the scene.

At one point, Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, started to collect the Republicans' phones, appearing to realize having the electronics there was a bad idea, Connolly said.

Gohmert, one of Trump's top defenders, used the opportunity to rail against what he described as injustice toward the president. Many Democrats sat watching, not wanting to engage.

Minutes after entering, several members of the group who do not sit on committees involved in the inquiry walked out, saying they were barred from the room.

The demonstration was the second attempt by non-committee Republicans to gain access in two weeks.

"They refused us once again," said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. "This is an outrage."

The protest caused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., to consult the House Sergeant at Arms about how to proceed, according to one Democratic lawmaker who witnessed the scene. Several protesting members had apparently tweeted from inside the SCIF, a security breach as cellphones are prohibited inside. The area is tightly restricted to allow lawmakers to review sensitive material without the risk of surveillance.

"Reporting from Adam B. Schiff's secret chamber," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., wrote on Twitter just before noon. Biggs stated that about 15 Republican lawmakers remained in the SCIF at that time. Other lawmakers who posted to Twitter later sought to clarify that they had transmitted their tweets to staff, who in turn posted the comments on social media.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a member of the Intelligence committee, said the Republicans compromised the SCIF's security by using their cellphones.

"Dozens of members brought in electronics," he said. "They not only brought in their unauthorized bodies, they may have brought in the Russians and the Chinese with electronics into a secure space, which will require that the space at some point in time be desensitized."

Meadows, speaking to reporters from a makeshift podium, insisted that there were "no cameras or phones in the SCIF."

"I actually collected phones and brought them back out," he said. "You certainly want a secure environment."

Republicans are familiar with the rules governing secure facilities on Capitol Hill, which they used for investigating the deadly 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Democrats derided that probe as a witch hunt against Hillary Clinton, who was then secretary of state.

A senior GOP aide dismissed concerns about the Republicans bringing electronics into the SCIF, stating that it was no worse than the actions of Connolly, a member of the House Oversight Committee, who read testimony from an impeachment witness publicly last week.

The prospect of Cooper's testimony had raised the possibility of fresh revelations one day after acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor seemed to weaken Trump's denial of a quid pro quo involving military aid to Ukraine.

Cooper is expected to provide insight into an assessment described by Taylor and conducted by the Pentagon that gauged the effectiveness of U.S. aid to Ukraine after it was put on hold. The effort led to a recommendation that the aid be reinstated.

A career bureaucrat who has served in the Pentagon since 2001, Cooper is unlikely to have had many interactions with the president or his inner circle, but she would have played a role in overseeing much of the roughly $391 million in aid at issue in the impeachment probe.

Cooper is also expected to detail interagency meetings in which senior officials discussed the need for aid and the best ways to convince Trump to resume it. The White House released the funds in September under bipartisan pressure from lawmakers.

She is the eighth witness to speak to lawmakers in person since the inquiry launched in late September.

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The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis, Karoun Demirjian, Greg Jaffe and John Wagner contributed to this report.