On 1/24/2023, Speaker Kevin McCarthy reiterated that he will block Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of California from serving on the House committee that oversees national intelligence, saying the decision was not based on political payback but because “integrity matters, and they have failed in that place.”
In the previous Congress, Democrats booted Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona from their committee assignments for incendiary commentary that they said incited potential violence against colleagues.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a letter sent to McCarthy over the weekend, asked that Schiff and Swalwell be reappointed to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a prestigious panel with access to sensitive, classified information. There is no “precedent or justification” for rejecting them, Jeffries said.
McCarthy said he would be submitting his reply later Tuesday, but “let me be very clear, this is not similar to what the Democrats did. Those members will have other committees, but the Intel Committee is different. The Intel committee’s responsibility is the national security to America.”
“Hakeem Jeffries has 200 other people who can serve on that committee,” he added.
McCarthy was critical of Schiff’s actions as chairman of the panel during the first impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, asserting he used his position to “lie to the American public again and again.” He also asserted Swalwell couldn’t get a security clearance in the private sector, so “we’re not going to provide him with the secrets to America.”
McCarthy insisted he was putting national security over partisan politics.
“We’re going to make the Intel Committee back to what it was supposed to be. No longer will we miss what happened in Afghanistan. No longer will we miss what’s happening in China, Russia, Iran and others. That’s what this country believes should happen,” McCarthy said.
On 1/24/2023, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) will be removed from office if the House Ethics Committee finds that the embattled congressman broke the law. “If for some way when we go through Ethics and he has broken the law, then we will remove him,” McCarthy told reporters during a press conference just outside his office. “The American public in his district voted for him. He has a responsibility to uphold what they voted for, to work and have their voice here, but at any time, if it rises to a legal level, we will deal with it then,” he added. “I do not have the power simply because if I disagreed with somebody or what they have said that I remove them from elected office. Now I will hold him to the same standard I hold anyone else elected to Congress,” he added.
Santos, who represents part of Long Island, has come under intense scrutiny amid revelations that he fabricated parts of his biography and questions about his finances. The New York Republican has admitted to embellishing his résumé but is vowing to remain in Congress, arguing that his constituents sent him to Washington to serve.
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McCarthy rejects Dems Adam Schiff & Eric Swalwell National Security Threat & Relationship With Chinese Spy