House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has formally resubmitted Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) for another two-year stint on the House Intelligence Committee, although the fate of those picks was uncertain considering past talk from House GOP leader-turned-Speaker Kevin McCarthy of blocking the Democrats from joining the panel.
“Proud to be nominated by @RepJeffries as the top Dem on the Intel Committee,” Schiff said. “McCarthy’s threat to remove me — to placate his right-wing — will damage the committee’s independence. Along with his committee on conspiracy theories, he is doing grave damage to national security.” Can the committee work freely to further its ambition of oversight of the intelligence community if constantly under the threat of McCarthy forcing out members? Relevant factors include which party controls the chamber after the 2024 elections — but that could be the Republicans, leaving McCarthy still in charge. What about the credibility of the panel after McCarthy turns it into an attempt at a partisan plaything?
The procedural composition of the intelligence committee means McCarthy is free to block individual members of his own accord. For Schiff, some of the Republican complaints predictably center on his involvement in the Russia investigation, with right-wing proclamations about his supposed lies getting what seems like more melodramatic every time, while Swalwell faces scrutiny for his years-old personal connections to an individual suspected of Chinese intel ties. The thing is: it’s unclear there was ever any breach related to that connection or that Swalwell ever took any action to further the tie after authorities warned him about the individual’s apparent background. The figure, who is no longer in the United States, targeted a series of politicians, not just Swalwell — and like others targeted by nonsensical deception from McCarthy or his allies, Swalwell has faced a barrage of threats to his safety amid the sprawling fury.
A letter this week from Jeffries outlining his push for Schiff and Swalwell to join the intelligence committee notes how there is simply not a legitimate correlation between keeping these figures off the panel and the bipartisan decisions of the House in the last Congress to remove GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from committee roles. Their actions were entirely different. Jeffries also pointed out the Republican acceptance in the party’s House conference for George Santos, despite the first-term Republican from Long Island lying about a staggeringly huge portion of his life. Sure, McCarthy could try and distract from questions about Santos’s lies with complaints about a supposed lack of sufficient coverage on imaginary scandals around Swalwell and the rest — but that already flimsy argument doesn’t work if McCarthy isn’t even doing anything about Santos, despite his deception!
Proud to be nominated by @RepJeffries as the top Dem on the Intel Committee.
McCarthy’s threat to remove me — to placate his right-wing — will damage the committee’s independence.
Along with his committee on conspiracy theories, he is doing grave damage to national security. pic.twitter.com/h42Er5r01w
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 23, 2023
