House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fired back Tuesday at a reporter asking how he could remove Democrats from the Intelligence Committee but allow embattled Republican Rep. George Santos to retain his duties on the committee.
‘I’ll be very clear with you. The Intel committee is different. You know why? Because what happens in the Intelligence Committee, you don’t know,” McCarthy told PBS NewsHour’s Lisa Desjardins.
Desjardins had pressed McCarthy that “lying to us” was a factor in removing Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, but Santos, who made up his entire backstory, didn’t count against the New York Republican.
McCarthy dismissed that Schiff, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Swalwell could still serve on other committees just not those charged with the nation’s secrets.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fired back Tuesday at a reporter asking how he could remove Democrats from the Intelligence Committee but allow embattled Republican Rep. George Santos to retain his duties on the committee
McCarthy fired House Intelligence Committee House Representatives Adam Schiff (left) and Eric Swalwell (right) and disagreed with a reporter Tuesday about the decision. He said the decision was made for “national security” reasons
“But guess what, these voters voted for Schiff even though he lied, these voters voted for Swalwell even though he also lied to the American public,” McCarthy argued. “You know what? I also respect its constituents and they will serve on committees. But you will not serve in a place that has national security implications because integrity is important to me.’
CNN reported that Schiff will serve on the House Judiciary Committee, while Swalwell told the network he will serve on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees.
“I will not be like the Democrats and do politics with them. Where they removed Republicans from committees and all committees,” McCarthy also said.
During the last convention, Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar were stripped of all their committee duties after they shared social media posts depicting violence against Democrats, including then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio -Cortez, were threatened.
They were removed from the committees by vote.
McCarthy was able to unilaterally remove Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee.
However, if he wants to carry out a threat to remove Representative Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee – over previous comments she made on Israel – there will be a vote on the floor.
It’s unclear if McCarthy has the votes.
Moderate Republican MPs Victoria Spartz and Nancy Mace have said they oppose the move.
McCarthy is also missing a vote because Rep. Greg Steube is recovering from significant injuries after falling off a ladder at his Florida home.
The Republican majority in the new House of Representatives removed the ability for members to vote by proxy.
During his argument with Desjardins, McCarthy pointed to Schiff’s role in Russiagate during the Trump years, saying the California Democrat “lied to the American public” about the legitimacy of Hunter Biden’s laptop while he served as Intelligence Committee chairman in the run-up to 2020 acted presidential election.
“So, yes, he can serve on a committee, but he won’t serve at Intel because America’s national security is at stake and I will always put it first, okay?” said McCarthy.
At a news conference on Wednesday alongside Swalwell and Omar, Schiff denied those allegations.
“Well, let me just say that Mr. McCarthy’s reasoning, justification is always changing,” Schiff said. “The cardinal sin appears to be that I led the impeachment of his master at Mar-a-Lago for withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, a nation not even then at war with Russia had to blackmail this country to help Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
McCarthy claimed he and Pelosi were briefed by the FBI on Swalwell’s involvement with a Chinese spy, but only after the California Democrat became a member of the Intelligence Committee, where he had access to classified information.
“And if you want to talk about Swalwell, let’s talk about Swalwell,” McCarthy went on. ‘Because you didn’t get the briefing I did.’
Schiff said McCarthy misrepresented what happened in the FBI briefing about Swalwell and alleged Chinese spy Fang Fang.
“As he implied, I attended that briefing and if Kevin McCarthy misrepresents it and does this disservice to the American people, that is shameful,” Schiff said. “This is an obviously unfair slander by Mr. McCarthy.”
Branded a Long Island liar for the many untruths he told about his backstory, Santos was appointed to the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.