As members of Congress, politicians pledge to defend the U.S. from enemies foreign and domestic. It looks like some Democrats had their fingers crossed.
And two Democrat Congressmen were just fired after this terrifying betrayal.
The political landscape has had some major shakeups over the past few months.
The American people discovered that the FBI is actively working to manipulate political speech through collusion with social media giants.
Joe Biden is under massive scrutiny for his handling of classified information – we’re finding out more and more politicians just take Top Secret information home with them.
And now two major Democrats are losing their jobs because of their corruption.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) formally declined to re-appoint two prominent Democrats to the House Intelligence Committee.
McCarthy issued a response letter on Tuesday to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who had proposed Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) for the panel that has access to the nation’s most sensitive secrets over the weekend.
“I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee. Integrity matters more,” McCarthy said.
I have rejected the appointments of Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell for the House Intelligence Committee.
I am committed to returning the @HouseIntel Committee to one of genuine honesty and credibility that regains the trust of the American people. pic.twitter.com/ePxlbanxta
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 25, 2023
“As such, in order to maintain a standard worthy of this committee’s responsibilities, I am hereby rejecting the appointments of Representative Adam Schiff and Representative Eric Swalwell to serve on the Intelligence Committee,” McCarthy added.
The letter was issued shortly after McCarthy and Jeffries allegedly met. Schiff and Swalwell, he told reporters, would be eligible to serve on other committees.
.@SpeakerMcCarthy to reporter: Let me be very clear & respectful to you. You ask me a question when I answer it it's the answer to your question. You don't get to determine whether I answer a question or not, okay? In all respect…what happens in the Intel Cmte you don't know. pic.twitter.com/WD57QB7m1v
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 25, 2023
McCarthy, as Speaker, has the unilateral right to block members of the House Intelligence Committee. McCarthy promised to knock Schiff and Swalwell off their perches long before he assumed the job. McCarthy has also mentioned removing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee, but that would require a House floor vote.
The Republican Party’s push to remove Democrats from committee assignments is not universally loved.
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who voted “present” on some of the 15 ballots for speaker last month, issued a statement indicating she did not support what she called a “charade.”
McCarthy has accused Schiff, the committee’s chairman for four years, of being a serial liar, notably in probes involving former President Donald Trump. Because of his close contacts to an alleged Chinese spy, the speaker raised national security concerns with Swalwell years ago.
“This is petty, political payback for investigating Donald Trump. If he thinks this will stop me, he will soon find out just how wrong he is. I will always defend our democracy,” Schiff tweeted Tuesday evening.
Swalwell has long defended himself in the Chinese espionage story, citing FBI sources who told the media that he was cooperating with any inquiry and was not suspected of wrongdoing.
“This rejection is based on a claim that the Washington Post independent-fact checker gave 4 Pinocchios,” he tweeted Tuesday. “Speaker [John] Boehner and [Paul] Ryan, both Gang of 8 members, appointed me to Intel with access to the same facts McCarthy is distorting. He can keep me off Intel, but I’m not going away.”
Jeffries, who took over as House Democratic leader from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) this session, wrote to McCarthy over the weekend, claiming that both Schiff and Swalwell were “eminently qualified” to continue serving on the panel.
He cited recent bipartisan votes that resulted in Republican members being removed from committee assignments. In an attempt to support his case, he also mentioned “serial fraudster” Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
Republicans chose to provide committee responsibilities to the freshman member, who has admitted to lying about areas of his job and personal life, despite Santos facing multiple probes and calls to quit.
“The apparent double standard risks undermining the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that is so desperately needed in Congress,” Jeffries said.
The House Intelligence Committee was long seen to be apolitical until it became a hotbed of partisanship during Trump’s presidency, with investigations into the 2016 election, Trump’s suspected ties to Russia, and Ukraine. McCarthy stated that he wishes to shift the focus away from politics.
“It is my assessment that the misuses of this panel during the 116th and 117th Congresses undermined its primary national security and oversight missions — ultimately leaving our nation less safe,” McCarthy wrote in his letter Tuesday.
“Therefore, as we enter a new Congress, I am committed to returning the Intelligence Committee to one of genuine honesty and credibility that regains the trust of the American people.”
Stay tuned to DC Daily Journal.
