The Democrat duo that launched the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy only wanted revenge for former President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, McCarthy ruled that Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell would no longer be welcome on the House Intelligence Committee. He has also threatened a vote in the House of Representatives to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her previous comments on Israel.
“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 from Ukraine, a nation already at war with Russia, in order to protect them blackmailing this country into helping Donald Trump’s re-election campaign,” Schiff said at a news conference on Capitol Hill alongside Swalwell and Omar.
Swalwell complained that McCarthy was using his power as an orator to “go after his political opponents and get them off the field.” “In my case, it’s purely political revenge,” Swalwell added.
Representatives Eric Swalwell (left) and Adam Schiff (center) have been removed from the House Intelligence Committee, while Representative Ilhan Omar (right) is threatened with a plenary vote to oust her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They held a press conference on Wednesday to respond
Democrats said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (pictured) carried out “his master’s Mar-a-Lago” bid in “vengeance” for the impeachment of former President Donald Trump by removing her from the House Intelligence Committee House of Representatives removed
In a heated exchange with a reporter Tuesday night, 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 previously serving as chairman of the Intelligence Committee . until the 2020 presidential election.
“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.’
McCarthy then brought up an FBI briefing he had with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Schiff regarding Swalwell’s involvement with an alleged Chinese spy named 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 obviously unfair slander by Mr. McCarthy,” said the California Democrat.
Swalwell said everything he did was two things: “I helped them time and time again, and I was never suspected of wrongdoing.”
Omar pointed out that she apologized for anti-Semitic remarks earlier in her tenure in Congress.
“I addressed it, I apologized. It’s been two and a half terms in office,” the Democrat from Minnesota said. “I think it’s really important to remember in all of our cases that it’s not the allegations McCarthy is making against us that are pushing for our removal from these committees.”
“It’s about revenge. It’s about placating the former president,” she added.
She argued that “all three of us were a thorn in the back of the previous disgraced president.”
“Republicans have been fighting for our seats and obviously know how effective we have been in upholding the Constitution, defending our democracy and fighting off extremists,” she said.
McCarthy was able to unilaterally remove Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee, but Omar’s fate will rest in the hands of the entire House.
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.
McCarthy was questioned Tuesday night about how he could force Schiff and Swalwell off their committees but allow serial liar and Republican Rep. George Santos to be assigned to two committees — the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology 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.
Schiff responded by saying, “The hypocrisy just grabs you by the throat.”
“This is a Republican orator who puts on committees a human imposter, George Santos, a serial fabricator over every part of his existence,” Schiff said.
In a tense back-and-forth with Desjardins at a Tuesday news conference, McCarthy also indicated that Schiff and Swalwell could serve on other committees — just not those tasked with keeping the nation secrets.
“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.’
“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.