House Speaker Kevin McCarthy formally rejected a late-stage bid by Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell to serve on the House Intelligence Committee, citing “integrity issues.”
McCarthy made clear his intention to remove the pair because of Swalwell’s relationship with a Chinese spy and Schiff’s penchant for leaking false information to the media.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged McCarthy to reconsider in a letter over the weekend.
On Tuesday, McCarthy responded with a letter of his own rejecting Jeffries’ appeal.
While he praised the leading House Democrat’s “loyalty” to his colleagues, McCarthy insisted he could not put “partisan loyalty over national security.”
“Integrity is more important,” he wrote in bold type.
“In order to maintain a quality worthy of this committee’s responsibilities, I am rejecting the appointments of Representative Adam Schiff and Representative Eric Swalwell to serve on the Intelligence Committee,” the new speaker announced.
I rejected the appointments of Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell to the House Intelligence Committee.
I am bound to return @houseintel A committee of true honesty and trustworthiness that will regain the trust of the American people. pic.twitter.com/ePxlbanxta
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 25, 2023
Support conservative voices!
Sign up to receive the latest Political news, insight and commentary delivered straight to your inbox.
RELATED: Swalwell Brashly Removes Him, Ilhan Omar and Adam Schiff From Committees After McCarthy Learns
Say goodbye to Schiff, Swalwell’s committee assignments
Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) did not take the news well of being removed from their House Intelligence Committee assignments, practically parroting each other in their responses.
“It’s petty, political payback to investigate Donald Trump,” Schiff said without testimony. “If he thinks this will stop me, he’ll soon find out how wrong he is.”
“I will always defend our democracy,” exclaimed Schiff, who spent the entire previous administration trying to bring down a duly elected president through lying about Russian collusion.
Kevin McCarthy just kicked me and @repswalwell Off the Intelligence Committee.
This is petty, political payback for investigating Donald Trump.
If he thought this would stop me, he would soon find out how wrong he was.
I will always defend our democracy.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 25, 2023
Swalwell’s flamboyant response was far from pretty. Democrat lawmakers reached out to their usual go-to, the Washington Post, to try and justify McCarthy’s actions as unjustified.
“This denial is based on the claim that the Washington Post independent-fact checker gave 4 Pinocchios,” he said. “Speaker Boehner and Ryan, a gang of 8, hired me for intel with access to the same facts that McCarthy is distorting.”
“They may take me away from Intel, but I’m not going away,” he warned, adding that he was definitely walking away from the Intel committee.
This denial is based on a statement by a Washington Post independent fact-checker that gave 4 Pinocchios. Speaker Boehner and Ryan, a gang of 8, appointed me to intel with access to the same facts that McCarthy was distorting. He may turn me away from Intel, but I won’t go away. https://t.co/YQZOVCSJpO
– Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 25, 2023
RELATED: Promise kept: Marjorie Taylor Green, Paul Gosar reinstated to House committees
SWALWELL’S WAPO DEFENSE
Swalwell was referring to a Washington Post article Democrat water boy “Independent” “fact-checker” Glenn Kessler has called allegations of ties to Chinese spies “fantasy”.
“There’s no evidence that he did anything wrong,” insists Kessler, essentially using the idea that ‘well, Swalwell denied any wrongdoing’ as the basis for his argument.
In contrast, a 2020 bombshell report indicated that a woman named Christine Fong (aka Fong Fong) “participated in fundraising activities for Rep. Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign” and “interacted with the Congressman at several events.” A course of several years.”
Fang served as a Chinese intelligence operative in China’s Ministry of State Security. She managed to land an intern at Swalwell’s Washington office.
There has been speculation that the relationship was sexual, which Swalwell has not specifically denied.
McCarthy confirmed that Swalwell, Schiff, and Omar would step down from the committees they previously served on: Intel/Foreign Affairs.
“Swalwell cannot get security clearance in the private sector. I am not going to give them government security clearance. Schiff lied to the American public…”
— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) January 10, 2023
Speaker McCarthy suggests something more sinister lurks beneath the surface.
“Swalwell cannot get security clearance in the private sector. I am not going to give him government security clearance,” he declared while talking about the committee’s agenda.
“If you’d gotten the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have Eric Swalwell which are committee,” he would later say.
If you had gotten the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have been on the Eric Swalwell committee. pic.twitter.com/2H19pezF9M
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 17, 2023
After kicking Swalwell and Schiff’s committee assignments, Kevin McCarthy reinstated MAGA representatives Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) from their roles after Democrats removed them from their roles.
McCarthy insisted that while Democrats were removing Green for posts made on social media before coming to Congress and Gosar for posting the anime video, removing Schiff and Swalwell was legal and not about payback.
“None of this is political. It’s not like what the Democrats did,” he said.
Now is the time to support and share sources you trust.
Political Insider was ranked #3 on FeedSpot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites”.