Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has revealed that he plans to strip several prominent Democrats of their powerful committee roles when the GOP takes back control of Congress.
Speaking in a new interview with Breitbart, McCarthy said he is planning strip Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of their assignments on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).
He also promised to give Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) the boot from her assignment on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
McCarthy also said Swalwell would not be allowed to serve on the Homeland Security Committee either.
McCarthy’s comments came during the latest On The Hill long-form video special, taped in December at an Eastern Market establishment on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
“The Democrats have created a new thing where they’re picking and choosing who can be on committees,” McCarthy said.
“Never in the history [of Congress] have you had the majority tell the minority who can be on committee.
“But this new standard which these Democrats have voted for—if Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the private sector, there is no reason why he should be given one to be on Intel or Homeland Security.
“He will not be serving there.”
“Yes,” McCarthy replied when asked if that meant he will use the standard Democrats have created by stripping Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) of their committee assignments to remove Swalwell from those two committees.
McCarthy also said he will remove Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Ilhan Omar should not be serving on Foreign Affairs,” McCarthy said.
“This is a new level of what the Democrats have done.”
In addition, he said he will pull Schiff—the current HPSCI chairman—off the Intelligence Committee.
“You look at Adam Schiff—he should not be serving on Intel when he has openly, knowingly now used a fake dossier, lied to the American public in the process and doesn’t have any ill will [and] says he wants to continue to do it,” McCarthy said.
“We’re going to reshape—think about what happened in Afghanistan.
“Why did Afghanistan collapse so fast?
“Was the Intel Committee under Adam Schiff focused on impeachment and not on the safety of America?
“Why are people coming across the border that are on a terrorist watch list? What are they doing about it?
“Their own members on that committee say it’s not happening when it’s true.
“We need to have an Intel Committee that looks at what’s happening around the world and keeps America safe.
“It should do exactly what it was created [to do]—overseeing of our agencies and others.
“We’re going to hold people to a higher standard in the process if they want to be on the Intel Committee and the training to be a part of it.
“Take the politics out of it.”
