
<p>House Minority Leader ;Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has nominated ;California Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell to continue serving on the ;House Intelligence Committee despite House Speaker Kevin McCarthy&#8217;s (R-CA) objections. ;</p>



<p>As House Speaker, McCarthy has the unilateral authority to confirm or reject nominations ;to the Intelligence Committee. Though law instructs him to consult with the minority leader, he is not bound by anyone&#8217;s opinions but his own (none of the other House committees function in this way). </p>



<p>In 2021, when ;Democrats voted to remove GOP ;Reps. ;Marjorie Taylor Green (AZ) and Paul Gosar (AZ) from their committee assignments following the January 6th insurrection, McCarthy promised to block Schiff and Swalwell from ever rejoining the Intelligence Committee. ;</p>



<p>&#8220;What I am doing with the Intel Committee [is] bringing it back to the jurisdiction it&#8217;s supposed to do,&#8221; said McCarthy. &#8220;Forward-looking to keep this country safe, keep the politics out of it.&#8221; ;</p>



<p>Schiff and Swalwell were two of the most outspoken proponents of the ;Russia collusion hoax, with the former accused of lying to the public and the latter accused of sleeping with ;Christine Fang &#8211; a Chinese spy who assisted Swalwell during his 2014 reelection campaign and courted a number of lawmakers in hopes of gaining access to classified ;information. ;</p>



<p>As detailed in the<em> Wall Street Journal</em> article linked below, Schiff often claimed to have &#8216;secret evidence&#8217; supporting Trump&#8217;s involvement with Russia (though none was ever produced). In 2018, he attempted to block the release of a memo authored by ;then-Intelligence Chairman ;Devin Nunes (R-CA) detailing the ;ways in which the FBI ;abused ;the FISA warrant process during its Trump-Russia investigation. Despite having access to the same information as Nunes, Schiff released his own memo backing the integrity of the FBI and framing the document Nunes had written as a &#8220;joke.&#8221; When the public took to social media to demand the release of Nunes&#8217; memo (#ReleaseTheMemo), Schiff claimed the hashtag was being spread by Russian bots. ;</p>



<p><strong>Though he would later be proven wrong, Schiff&#8217;s deceit kept the collusion narrative going for far longer than it otherwise would have. ;</strong></p>



<p>Schiff, who chaired the Intelligence Committee from 2019-2022, served as ;lead manager for Trump&#8217;s first impeachment trial. Swalwell, who has technically reached his four-cycle limit for serving on the committee, ;served as lead manager for Trump&#8217;s second impeachment trial.</p>



<p>Regardless of the facts, Jeffries insists both Democrats are &#8220;eminently qualified&#8221; to remain on the committee.</p>



<p>&#8220;Together, these Members have over two decades of distinguished leadership ;providing ;oversight of our nation&#8217;s Intelligence Community, in addition to their prosecutorial work in law enforcement prior to serving in Congress,&#8221; wrote Jeffries in a letter to McCarthy, adding that the &#8220;denial of seats to duly elected members of the House Democratic Caucus runs counter to the serious and sober mission of the Intelligence Committee.&#8221; ;</p>



<p><em>The House Intelligence Committee is uniquely important in that it is tasked with oversight of the US Intelligence Community. Though it shares some jurisdiction with other House committees, it is privy to information that other lawmakers can&#8217;t see and that the press can&#8217;t verify. There is no reason individuals like Schiff or Swalwell should be trusted with this responsibility given their track record as liars and partisan rabble-rousers. ;</em></p>



<p><em>Republicans ;also object to Democrats&#8217; nomination of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to join the House Foreign Affairs Committee based on her anti-Semitic views and are expected to stage a vote to remove her from the committee.</em></p>



<p><strong>Sources:</strong></p>



<p><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3826508-schiff-swalwell-submitted-to-intel-panel-forcing-fight-with-mccarthy/">Jeffries submits, Schiff, Swalwell for Intel panel, forcing fight with McCarthy </a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffries-taps-schiff-swalwell-house-164619803.html">Jeffries taps Schiff, Swalwell for House Intel despite McCarthy vow to block </a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/eric-swalwell-denies-wrongdoing-chinese-spy-scandal">Eric Swalwell denies wrongdoing in Chinese spy scandal</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/adam-schiff-disinformation-man-house-intelligence-committee-russia-devin-nunes-memo-twitter-files-matt-taibbi-11674166043?mod=Searchresults_pos1&;page=1">Adam Schiff, Disinformation Man</a></p>



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McCarthy to Block Disgraced Schiff and Swalwell from Intel Committee
