House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has reportedly stated that he will follow up on his previously stated commitment to remove three prominent Democrats from committee assignments in the upcoming 118th Congress.
McCarthy claimed in a new interview that he will take action to prohibit Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., will also be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Swalwell can’t get a security clearance in the private sector. I’m not going to give him a government security clearance. Schiff has lied too many times to the American public. He should not be on Intel.” McCarthy said.
McCarthy has previously claimed that Omar’s committee seat should be removed because of her vocal criticism of Israel, which opponents believe borders on antisemitism.
McCarthy has accused Schiff of lying to the public on a dubious dossier that purported to show links between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
McCarthy has also labeled Swalwell a “national security concern” because of his purported encounters with an accused Chinese spy, and has stated that he should not be permitted to serve on the committee.
After separate issues involving each politician, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., removed Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., from their committees during the previous Congress.
Greene was removed from the House Committee on Education and Labor and the House Budget Committee in 2021 after she uploaded a picture of herself carrying a pistol alongside images of Reps. Omar, Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Greene has since repudiated several of her earlier conspiracy claims.
Likewise after sharing a video depicting himself murdering Ocasio-Cortez and criticizing President Biden, Gosar was censured by the House and deprived of his committee duties.
Republicans claimed each time that Democrats were creating a dangerous precedent by removing minority members from committees.
McCarthy had pledged that if Republicans regained control of the House in 2022, Greene and Gosar would regain their committee assignments, and he would prevent the three Democrats from serving on their panels.
Schiff was the chief impeachment manager in Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial, and he and Swalwell were both managers in Trump’s second impeachment trial.
McCarthy, as speaker, has the authority to remove Schiff and Swalwell from the intelligence committee, but to remove Omar from any other committee, the whole House would need to vote by simple majority to do so.
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