Hot, crowded and secret room now part of impeachment lore

It’s “excruciating.” It smells like a “locker room.” And what happens re is supposed to stay re.

When history is written about President Donald Trump’s presidency, a key chapter in House’s drive to impeach him will be set in a spy-proof bunker tucked beneath a spiral staircase just to east of U.S. Capitol. re, three House committees have been hearing about Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine, garing testimony that could serve as foundation for articles of impeachment.

Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility — SCIF for short — seems poised to join Washington impeachment lore. But unlike, say, former Holiday Inn of Watergate fame or White House Rose Garden, SCIF is an axis of political intrigue out of sight by design. ways, more people surrender ir cell phones and cram inside than was designed to hold, with little distraction from proceedings or each or.

All that ambition, heat and high political stakes fuel SCIF’s air of mystery. Inside, those factors apparently infuse air itself, which alternates between too cold and too hot.

“My staff tells me it’s started to smell like a locker room in here,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman am Schiff (D., Calif.) said during an Oct. 11 deposition of former Ukraine ambassor Marie Yavavitch.

That drew rare agreement from House Oversight Committee’s top Republican.

“It was hot today. air wasn’t on right,” Rep. Mark Meows, R-N.C., said on Monday, grinning. “It h thing to do with rhetoric.”

SCIF that has become center of impeachment is t one of a kind. secure is built to specific standards on material, size and how it’s used, all aimed at allowing classified work to be conducted without risk of spying.

re’s one for senators, where y gared to re private documents during last year’s stormy confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. White House Situation Room is a SCIF. se s have built inside homes, like ranch of former President George W. Bush in Texas and Trump’s residences in New York and Florida.

Typically, y are windowless. Vents and or gaps include material, such as rubber, that interfere with conduction of sound. And all who enter are required to sign in, surrender and lock up electronic devices and phones, even fitness bracelets. n ir disappearing act begins.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. In an episode that amped up SCIF’s fame, about two dozen Republicans complaining about secrecy stormed inside late last month, pausing only to hold a press conference at bottom of circular stairwell. For a few hours, y held up Democrat-driven inquiry, which Chairman am Schiff said h to be kept secret to prevent witnesses from coordinating ir stories. Several in GOP appeared to be tweeting from inside vault, a potential security breach. House sergeant-at-arms, parliamentarian and Capitol security officers were called.

At one point during SCIF standoff, Republicans ordered a cart full of pizzas for reporters staking out site. boxes were much photographed but sat untouched, because journalists can’t accept gifts from lawmakers. Eventually marauding Republicans left, holding ar press conference on way out. proceedings resumed, but chamber h to be “swept” for any surveillance or or compromised security.

SCIF’s moment in spotlight seems nearly over, with Democrats wrapping up interviews and launching into public hearings next week.

But any elegy for impeachment SCIF would be incomplete without ting that it sprouted its own peak Washington culture. pizza cart, for example, became a key visual. SCIF has its own hashtag and staircase has attracted a variety of nicknames from reporters and staffers, including “ Pit of Despair.” Someone proposed dressing up as SCIF for Halloween, perhaps as a box-within-a-box that emits sound.

For lawmakers, entry to SCIF is its own journey, starting in a tunnel in basement of Capitol. That passway takes m to atrium over stairwell, where y descend two levels and open a set of doors emblazoned with t one, but two, red signs that re, ’RESTRICTED.”

y n enter over a cranberry-colored carpet and walk past a stand of flags for intelligence ncies. Lawmakers lock up ir electronics, take a key with m and enter a secure room set up like a conference room or committee room.

“It feels like a casi, because you have se fluorescent lights and you never kw what time it is,” said Mieke Eoyang, who served as a subcommittee staff director on on House Intelligence Committee and is w vice president for Third Way’s national security program.

It’s been crowded during impeachment proceedings because rooms were generally built for one committee at a time and ir staff. impeachment inquiry includes three committees, ir staff, witnesses and ir entours, some of whom can be seen coming and going on camera via a set of frequently photographed elevator doors.

One recent day, freshman Republican Tim Burchett of Tennessee ambled toward double doors with gait of someone who’d rar spend his time elsewhere. A member of House Foreign Affairs panel, he’s entitled to attend sessions. But he grimaced and described m as “excruciating,” both because majority Democrats are setting rules in a way he deems unfair and because of ir length. He said he’s seen as many as 30 people in one room, some standing.

“I suspect when my grandkids are reing about it in history books y’ll ... ask me what it was like,” Burchett said in a phone interview. “Maybe I’ll remember it much more fondly.”