House Republicans took their fuming over the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump to new, possibly national-security-compromising levels on Wednesday. Florida representative and diehard Trump ally Matt Gaetz announced that he and about two dozen other Republicans would crash a closed-door deposition of the House Intelligence Committee. Because the hearing involved testimony of Pentagon official Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, the committee was meeting in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF. The Republicans successfully derailed and shut down the hearing, trying to break into the SCIF while chanting, "Let us in! Let us in!"

Reports from Capitol Hill paint a chaotic scene. Adam Schiff, California Democrat and head of the committee, had to call in the sergeant-at-arms, while the Republicans reportedly had Domino's pizza delivered, indicating they had no plans to leave. Schiff has said that the committee will release transcripts and hold public hearings, but right now they're currently at the investigative, fact-finding stage of the inquiry.

Despite their demands that they be part of the investigation, neither Gaetz nor most of the Republicans in his wake actually sit on the Judiciary Committee, meaning they actually have no right to attend hearings that aren't open to the public. Gaetz and Jim Jordan of Ohio have been particularly incensed over the investigation into Donald Trump, with Gaetz calling it a "kangaroo court" and Jordan saying it's an "unfair and partisan process." But for lawmakers who are so obsessed with "law and order," the Republicans seemed hell-bent on hijacking hearings that are part of the constitutional process for impeachment.

Republicans are desperately trying to paint the whole process as shadowy and corrupt, with Kentucky's Andy Biggs referring to the House's SCIF as "Adam Schiff’s secret chamber." But they had no qualms about closed SCIF hearings back when they held numerous ones during their investigation of then secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the 2011 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. But that was then, and right now Trump needs serious help if he's going to be saved from impeachment. That's especially true after Tuesday, when diplomat Bill Taylor gave damning testimony about Trump's attempt to pressure Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating Trump's political rivals.

SCIFs are supposed to be secure areas where even cell phones aren't permitted, yet according to reports, many of the congressmen had their phones in hand. And Gaetz seemed to be tweeting while still inside the SCIF, until a lone follow-up tweet clarified that all messages were actually being tweeted out by his staff. Which is good for Gaetz, because otherwise he would be committing a massive national security violation, and this whole stunt is purportedly to show his commitment to law and order.