Media

Meghan McCain calls GOP impeachment protest ‘publicity stunt politics’

“The View” co-host Meghan McCain on Thursday ripped Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) after a group of GOP lawmakers stormed a closed-door impeachment proceeding on Capitol Hill.

“By the way, Matt Gaetz, when did you want to become a TV star?” McCain said. “You want to do that? Get the hell out of Congress. Get a TV job.”

McCain’s comments come a day after Gaetz, a vocal supporter of President Trump, and other Republicans — including some members of the party’s leadership — barged into a secure hearing room in the Capitol basement on Wednesday to protest what they’ve argued is an unfair impeachment inquiry into the president.

Hours after the demonstration, Gaetz lashed out at congressional Democrats as an “angry pack of rabid hyenas.”

“I think Democrats shouldn’t be doing it. I think Republicans shouldn’t be doing it. I think we elect you to get your freaking job done one way or the other,” McCain said Thursday, adding that “when you’re doing what Republicans did yesterday, it’s the reason why Congress has a 13 percent approval rating.”{mosads} 

The protest delayed a House deposition with Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, by about five hours and caused a stir in the Capitol.

Many Democrats took issue with the fact that Republicans violated congressional rules by bringing cellphones into a secure facility.

Multiple House committees have conducted closed-door depositions with several current and former Trump administration officials as part of the inquiry, spurring outrage from Trump and Republicans over what they view as a lack of transparency into the process.