House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has retaliated against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) by barring two Democrats from serving on the House committee.
McCarthy announced Tuesday that he would resign for the seats of Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff of California on the House Intelligence Committee – a purely political payback for Democrats who eliminated Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from the committee in 2021.
At general letter for the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), who has been named a partner to the intelligence committee, McCarthy said that “in order to maintain the standards worthy of the responsibility of this committee,” he will reject the appointment of two Democrats.
Greene has emerged as McCarthy’s main ally on the far right of the Republican Party. Democrats removed him from the committee in 2021 when it emerged that he had traded online in conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric against political opponents, especially Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), before coming to Congress. McCarthy won Greene’s support for the speakership in part by promising to put it back on the committee if Republicans controlled the House – a promise he has kept.
McCarthy did not explain in his letter why Swalwell and Schiff should not be on the committee, but he has repeatedly claimed that Swalwell would not get security clearance because of his ties to Chinese spies and that Schiff had lied to America. people. Both of these allegations wise.
“This is not politics,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “This is not the same as what the Democrats are doing. The members will have other committees, but the intel committee is different.
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Blocking committee appointments is a clear act of political retribution. McCarthy first suggested the Republicans would do it November 2021 when the House voted to boot Gosar from the committee after he posted a bizarre cartoon video depicting himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.).
McCarthy could unilaterally decline a seat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence because the speaker has more control than the select committee. They have it too threatened to block Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the committeebut doing so would likely require a House vote.
In a letter Sunday to McCarthy, Jeffries said removing Republicans from the committee because of threatening behavior against colleagues should not be used as a precedent for removing Swalwell and Schiff. He described the appointment of “serial fraudster” George Santos (RN.Y.) to both committees as a double standard.
McCarthy confirmed Tuesday that a secret briefing he received from the FBI warranted Swalwell’s removal from the intel committee.
“The FBI is concerned about putting members of Congress on the intel committee — who have the right to look at things that other people don’t — because of their knowledge and connections to Chinese spies,” McCarthy said.
What is commonly known about the allegations comes from a 2020 Axios story who said the Chinese spy ingratiated himself with the elected Democrats from 2011 through 2015, including by raising money for Swalwell’s reelection, and Swalwell immediately stopped all contact with him after the FBI briefed him. The story makes no mistake by Swalwell.
McCarthy offered a list of grievances against Schiff, the former chairman of the intelligence committee, including the dubious claim that he himself knew the whistleblower who led to the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
In a joint statement, Swalwell, Schiff and Omar said McCarthy had “gave in to the right wing” of the Republican Party and made a bargain “that required political revenge against the three of us.”