In addition to giving Swalwell the boot from the House Intel Committee, McCarthy kept Adam Schiff off too, saying that he didn’t have the integrity to be on it.
Later, explaining that decision to reporters, McCarthy said:
“Let me be very clear and respectful to you. You ask me a question, when I answer it, it’s the answer to your question. You don’t get to determine whether I answer your question or not, okay? With all respect, thank you. No, no. Let’s answer her question.”
“You just raised the question. I will be very clear with you. The Intel Committee is different, well, you know why? Because what happens in the Intel Committee, you don’t know. What happens in the Intel committee, other secrets are going on the world, other members of Congress don’t know,”
Continuing, McCarthy went on to say that Schiff used “his power as a chairman and lied to the American public. Even the inspector general said it. When Devin Nunes put out a memo, [Schiff] said it was false. When we had a laptop, he used it before an election to [play] politics and say that it was false and said it was the Russians when he knew different, when he knew the Intel… He used his position as chairman, knowing he has information the rest of America does not, and lied to the American public.”
He added that “So, no, [Schiff] does not have a right to sit on it. But I will not be like Democrats and play politics with these where they removed Republicans from committees and all committees. So, yes, he can serve on a committee, but he will not serve on Intel because it goes to the national security of America and I will always put them first.”
Ending his remarks to reporters on the matter, McCarthy said “But you know what, those voters elected Schiff, even though he lied, those voters elected Swalwell, even though he lied to the American public, too. So, you know what? I respect his voters, too, and they’ll serve on committees, but they will not serve on a place that has national security relevance because integrity matters to me. That’s the answer to your question.”
"*" indicates required fields
Well, predictably, Schiff didn’t take it well. Instead, he freaked out and vowed revenge, tweeting:
“Kevin McCarthy just kicked me and @RepSwalwell off the Intelligence Committee. This is petty, political payback for investigating Donald Trump. If he thinks this will stop me, he will soon find out just how wrong he is. I will always defend our democracy.”
McCarthy, in keeping Schiff off the committee, kept a promise he made in June of last year, at which time he said “I’ll promise you this — when I’m Speaker, [Schiff] will not be on the Intel Committee anymore. And you know what else, Swalwell won’t either. I don’t know if this is a high bar. But if you have relations with a Chinese spy, you shouldn’t be allowed to be on the Intel Committee.”
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1