[csusbpeace] Kevin McCarthy Denies Intelligence Committee Seats To Eric Swalwell And Adam Schiff
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:26:13 -0800
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kevin-mccarthy-eric-swalwell-adam-schiff-ilhan-omar_n_63d0839be4b0c8e3fc7a833a
Kevin McCarthy Denies Intelligence Committee Seats To Eric Swalwell And Adam
Schiff
The House speaker described the obvious payback as "not anything political.”
Jan 24, 2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has avenged Rep. Marjorie Taylor
Greene (R-Ga.) by blocking two Democrats from serving on a House committee.
McCarthy announced Tuesday he would refuse to seat Democratic Reps. Eric
Swalwell and Adam Schiff of California on the House Intelligence Committee —
pure political payback for Democrats removing Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar
(R-Ariz.) from committees in 2021.
In a public letter
<https://twitter.com/speakermccarthy/status/1618047779422769154?s=46&t=NvHHyZYcohsnYc0-w_Yjvg>
to Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who had named the pair to the
intelligence committee, McCarthy said that “in order to maintain a standard
worthy of this committee’s responsibilities,” he would reject the appointment
of the two Democrats.
Greene has emerged as McCarthy’s top ally on the far-right flank of the
Republican Party <https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/republican-party>.
Democrats <https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/democratic-party> booted her
from committees in 2021 when it came out that she had trafficked online in
conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric
<https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-democrats-violence/index.html>
toward political opponents, especially Rep. Nancy Pelosi
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/nancy-pelosi> (D-Calif.), before coming
to Congress. McCarthy won Greene’s support for his speakership partly by
promising to put her back on committees if Republicans controlled the House —
a promise he has kept.
McCarthy did not explain in his letter why Swalwell and Schiff shouldn’t
serve on the committee, but he has repeatedly claimed Swalwell would be
unable to get a security clearance due to a past affiliation with a Chinese
spy and that Schiff had lied to the American people. Both allegations are
specious
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/18/mccarthys-specious-attacks-adam-schiff-eric-swalwell/>.
“This is not anything political,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol
earlier on Tuesday. “This is not similar to what the Democrats did. Those
members will have other committees, but the intel committee is different.”
Drew Angerer via Getty Images
Blocking the committee appointments is an obvious act of political
retribution. McCarthy first suggested Republicans would do so in November
2021
<https://thehill.com/homenews/house/582031-house-votes-to-censure-gosar-and-boot-him-from-committees/>
when the House voted to boot Gosar from committees after he posted a weird
cartoon video depicting himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.).
McCarthy can unilaterally deny seats on the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence because the speaker has more control over select committees
than standing committees. He has also threatened to block Rep. Ilhan Omar
(D-Minn.) from committees
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kevin-mccarthy-ilhan-omar-committees_n_63bee14de4b0d6724fc99991>,
but doing so would likely require a House vote.
In a Sunday letter to McCarthy, Jeffries said removing Republicans from
committees for their threatening behavior toward colleagues shouldn’t be used
as a precedent for removing Swalwell and Schiff. He described the appointment
of “serial fraudster” George Santos (R-N.Y.) to two committees as a double
standard.
McCarthy insisted Tuesday that a secret briefing he’d received from the FBI
warranted Swalwell’s removal from the intel committee.
“The FBI was concerned about putting a member of Congress on the intel
committee — that have the rights to see things that others don’t — because of
his knowledge and relationship with a Chinese spy,” McCarthy said.
What’s publicly known about the allegation stems from a 2020 Axios story
<https://www.axios.com/2020/12/08/china-spy-california-politicians> that said
a Chinese spy ingratiated herself with elected Democrats from 2011 through
2015, including by raising money for Swalwell’s reelection, and that Swalwell
immediately ceased all contact with the person after the FBI briefed him. The
story didn’t lay out any wrongdoing by Swalwell.
McCarthy offered a list of grievances against Schiff, the former chair of the
intelligence committee, including a dubious claim that he personally knew the
whistleblower who sparked the first impeachment of former President Donald
Trump.
In a joint statement, Swalwell, Schiff and Omar said McCarthy had
“capitulated to the right wing” of the Republican Party and struck a corrupt
bargain “that required political vengeance against the three of us.”
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