I will make this quick as Gaetz has decided to show our foreign counterparts basically parts of our government have no concept or respect for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities. This is important, because the closed hearing in the capital was a SCIF.
Here is the Department of Defense doc for this type of facility:
fas.org/…
SCIFs contain the most sensitive and classified material in the US government, basically our intelligence jewels are are in a black box, aka shielded from electronic emanation and require documentation per DoD5105.21 linked above.
1) The Congressmen who stormed in with their smart devices actually committed a High crime. If you or I had done this, we might be on our way to SuperMax.
2) As the Congressmen who were not cleared to attend and did not have the proper waivers to enter the SCIF, if they were a military personal, they would be on their way to Leavenworth.
3) Any foreign counterpart now knows the Republican Party no longer respects the Rule of Law and codified law, so why not zombie their devices as these knuckleheads will just waltz into a SCIF like they were King George.
4) 100%, if you violate a SCIF, you go to jail.
Besides the insane crimes against the Republic these Congressmen have committed, there is also the witness tampering aspect.
This is big and probably their main goal as I doubt they don't even know what a SCIF is, much less the legality.
But the GOP wanted it known that if you testified, any knucklehead from their party will ruin the privacy and security needed for whistleblowers to share facts without fear of retribution.
Either way, Lock Them Up.
We are a republican of Rule of Law. Let’s start acting like it.