Kevin McCarthy Officially Gives Schiff and Swalwell the Heave-Ho from the Intelligence Committee: ‘Integrity Matters’

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) officially informed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) two of his Democratic colleagues will not be returning to the Intelligence Committee in the new Congress.

McCarthy indicated he would not seat Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) on that committee. He previously raised concerns about Schiff’s handling of the first impeachment investigation into former President Donald Trump, as well as Swalwell’s interactions with an alleged Chinese spy.

Though committee members must be reappointed at the beginning of each new Congress, their reassignments to their previous committee are often mere formalities.

In his letter to Jeffries, McCarthy referred to Schiff and Swalwell as his “Democrat colleagues,” opting to use “Democrat” as an adjective, which is considered a pejorative.

In his letter on Tuesday night, McCarthy wrote:

I appreciate the loyalty you have to your Democrat colleagues, and I acknowledge your efforts to have two Members of Congress reinstated to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. But 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. [emphasis his]

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.

It is my assessment that the misuse of this panel during the 116th and 117th Congresses severely undermined its primary national security and oversight missions ultimately leaving our nation less safe. 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.

Democrats allege the move is payback after the former Democratic-controlled House voted to strip Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from their committee assignments.

In Gosar’s case, he shared a photoshopped anime video showing him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). As for Greene, she was removed after she was found to have liked a Facebook comment saying “a bullet to the head” of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) would be a “quicker” way to remove her from the position.

McCarthy has accused Schiff using his position as a House impeachment manager against Trump to “lie to the American public again and again.”

The speaker has also raised concerns over Swalwell’s previous association with a suspected Chinese spy named Christine Fang, a.k.a., Fang Fang, who cozied up to California politicians between 2011 and 2015. One of those was Swalwell.

Earlier this month, he defended his actions.

“This happened nearly 10 years ago,” he said on MSNBC. “The FBI told me that someone who had been helping our campaign in a district with 35% Asian Americans may be working with the Chinese government. I did what I hope every one of my colleagues would do, which was to help the FBI get this person out of the country.”

Swalwell noted that two previous Republican speakers knew about Fang, but kept him on the Intelligence Committee.