Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has reintroduced a bill to block Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) from receiving classified information.
Gaetz filed the “Preventing Extreme Negligence with Classified Information Licenses Resolution,” or the “PENCIL Resolution.”
The resolution also seeks to open an investigation into Schiff by the House Ethics Committee, and would officially strike his comments made during any proceeding of Congress regarding false allegations about Russian collusion and the Trump campaign from the record.
The naming of the bill mocks Schiff by making reference to the “Pencil Neck” nickname that President Donald Trump uses for the congressman.
Gaetz said: “Congressman Adam Schiff led the effort for years to weaponize lies from the Clinton campaign and a corrupt Department of Justice to smear President Trump while destroying any trust the country had left in America’s intelligence agencies.
“Speaker McCarthy kept his promise to remove Rep. Schiff from the Intelligence Committee, and with the PENCIL Resolution, we will express the sense of Congress that he should be barred from accessing any classified information at all.
“He can no longer be trusted by his colleagues in Congress or the American people.”
No one can truly defend Adam Schiff.
He made his career leaking and then embroidering lies onto those very leaks.
That’s why I introduced the PENCIL Resolution today to block Adam Schiff from accessing classified information.https://t.co/xJtgk3Z3lZ pic.twitter.com/albYiDlxMM
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 27, 2023
Gaetz’s office issued a statement that said:
“As a member of the ‘Gang of Eight,’ Rep. Schiff is responsible for characterizing critical, sensitive intelligence information to the other members of Congress and the American people.
“During his time in Congress under President Trump, Rep. Schiff falsely claimed there was ‘clear evidence on the issue of collusion,’ and falsely claimed the Trump campaign accepted help from the Russian government to win the presidency.
“Meanwhile, a nine-count indictment against the former head of the FBI’s counterintelligence office in New York, Special Agent Charles McGonigal, was unsealed this week.
“It proved that the very people investigating President Trump for Russian collusion were themselves taking orders from Russian oligarchs.
“McGonigal accepted illegal foreign payments and schemed to set up a post-career influence-peddling operation while actively working as a senior official for the FBI,” the statement said.
Schiff wants to run for the soon-to-be vacant Senate seat currently held by Dianne Feinstein.
Matt Gaetz proposes work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid pic.twitter.com/pA6V080iDo
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 27, 2023
