Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) condemned the lack of an aggressive response from House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to the recent leak of protected military secrets by a member of the Air National Guard named Jack Teixeira — who has promptly garnered support from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). (UPDATE: McCarthy has released comments that… don’t even mention the leaker! What a cowardly flop.)
“FBI just caught one of the biggest traitors in America’s history, a right-wing anti-Semitic lunatic who stole America’s secrets and put our troops at risk,” Swalwell remarked on Friday. “Yet, not a word from Kevin McCarthy to thank FBI and condemn the traitor. Does he stand with the traitor or our troops?” For better or for worse, public condemnation can matter here, as it helps establish a trend of rejecting such behavior, which could endanger people’s lives whether through exposing intelligence sources and methods or revealing military plans of the U.S. or its allies. So where’s Kevin?
So far, most of what the GOP majority in the House has done since taking control has been for show.
What do hearings complaining about the years-old decision by Twitter to limit the spread of a single story from the New York Post about a non-political figure do to help people struggling to, as the saying goes, make ends meet? Does Jim Jordan imagine that trying to meddle with the criminal investigation in Manhattan into Donald Trump will help children experiencing poverty, homeless veterans, or the increasing victims of gun violence across the United States? Trump is a private citizen who is being targeted because of what are apparently the documented actions he took involving alleged falsifications of business records. To claim the case in any way represents some kind of politicization of the justice system that reasonably threatens everyday Americans is a laughable farce. Everyday Americans weren’t involved in a scheme to give $130,000 to a woman with whom they allegedly had an affair and then cover up the money.
“As his MAGA colleagues celebrate the anti-Semitic traitor who gave away top secret troop movements, why can’t Kevin McCarthy condemn the act?” Swalwell continued later on Friday. “His silence speaks volumes. Kevin, are you with the troops or the traitor?”
Greene confidently insinuated it was at least likely accurate that U.S. troops have been deployed to Ukraine in a combat capacity, which is false. What’s actually the case is that a small number of troops are there in tandem with the U.S. Embassy working on what is apparently tracking some of the equipment the U.S. has provided Ukraine — not combat.
FBI just caught one of the biggest traitors in America’s history, a right-wing anti-Semitic lunatic who stole America’s secrets and put our troops at risk. Yet, not a word from Kevin McCarthy to thank FBI and condemn the traitor. Does he stand with the traitor or our troops?
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 14, 2023
As his MAGA colleagues celebrate the anti-Semitic traitor who gave away top secret troop movements, why can’t Kevin McCarthy condemn the act? His silence speaks volumes. Kevin, are you with the troops or the traitor?
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 14, 2023
