Republicans interrupted impeachment inquiry hearings Wednesday in protest against the closed-door format for leading the proceedings.

The Hill reported that Dozens of Republicans, including some members of leadership like House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), barged into the secure hearing room in the Capitol basement where Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, was set to provide private testimony.

The chaos and confusion temporarily shut down the proceedings as Republicans tweeted live updates of the disruption from their cellphones, which are not typically permitted in classified areas, and reportedly entered into yelling matches with committee members, The Guardian Reports.

According to Charles P. Pierce, House Republicans who tried to storm the secure area in the Capitol where Laura Cooper, the top Pentagon official on Ukraine, was testifying have effectively shut down the interview, according to a senior Democratic lawmaker…More than two dozen House Republicans, led by representative Matt Gaetz, tried to force their way into Cooper’s deposition, even though they are not members of the three committees leading the inquiry…

This new development comes after “Donald Trump on Monday exhorted fellow Republicans to get tougher and fight for his presidency, saying the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives wants to impeach him “as quick as possible” over his request that Ukraine investigate a political rival.” Reuters also reported that:

Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to censure one of the inquiry’s leaders, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, but the motion was blocked by Democrats who control the chamber.

Few Republican lawmakers have shown an inclination to remove Trump from office even as Democrats focus on his pushing a vulnerable foreign ally to interfere to his benefit in the November 2020 U.S. election by providing political dirt on Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination to run against Trump.

Trump also labeled as “phony” an anti-corruption clause in the U.S. Constitution that Democrats have accused him of violating by profiting from his businesses, including a hotel in downtown Washington. The so-called emoluments clause bars a president from receiving any gifts, payment or other things of value from a foreign country.

Jim Swift, Senior Editor at The Bulwark stated that “Gaetz and his co-conspirators are suggesting that Republicans have been shut out from the testimony being given in the impeachment inquiry because it’s being done in a classified setting to the House. It’s important to underscore that this simply is not true.”

According to Swift, The Republican members of Congress who sit on the committee either were (or should have been) in this SCIF. The hearing is closed not to “Republicans” but to all members who are not on the relevant committee. And the members of the relevant committee come from both parties.