aharoun@insider.com (Azmi Haroun)
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rejected the nominations of two Democrats to serve on the intelligence committee.
- McCarthy said Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell were unsuitable to serve on the committee.
- The two Democrats served there from 2015 to 2019 and led impeachment efforts against Trump.
House Speaker’s Representative Kevin McCarthy announcement that two prominent Democrats would not be reassigned to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in a bold partisan articulation of his new term.
McCarthy released a letter responding to House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday, saying the two lawmakers had “seriously undermined his core national security and oversight missions — ultimately leaving our country less secure.”
Jeffries had rallied McCarthy on Monday to allow the two to serve on the committee, underscoring the “double standard” of allowing the rep for serial liar George Santos to get committee assignments.
McCarthy, who was elected House Majority Speaker after an overwhelming 15th votesaid in his letter that he “cannot simply recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership,” referring to Reps. Schiff and Swalwell’s previous terms on the committee from 2015 to 2019.
Schiff and Swalwell have both featured prominently in the impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Previously, McCarthy had argued that due to Swalwell’s past association with a Chinese spy, he shouldn’t be on the committee. He pretended that Schiff “lied to the American public” on his knowledge of the whistleblower at the center of the first impeachment proceedings. McCarthy claimed the move was not a retaliatory measure