McCarthy Plans to Remove Swalwell from Intel Committee over Ties to Suspected Chinese Spy
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House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said Sunday he plans to follow through on his promises to remove several Democrats from their congressional committees when Republicans take control of the House in the new year.
McCarthy said he will remove Representatives Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) from the House Intelligence Committee and Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He cited Swalwell’s association with a Chinese spy, Schiff’s boosting of the now-debunked Steele dossier and Omar’s criticism of Israel as reasons each lawmaker is unfit to serve their committee assignments.
“One thing I said from the very beginning, Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector,” he said during an appearance on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “Why would we ever give him a security clearance and the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel.”
In March 2021, the Democrat-controlled House voted to table a Republican resolution to remove Swalwell from the House intelligence panel over his past ties to a suspected Chinese spy who allegedly targeted U.S. politicians.
Democrats dismissed the effort, brought by McCarthy, in a 218-200 vote. McCarthy’s resolution said the California Democrat “has not denied public reporting that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped raise money for Representative Swalwell’s political campaigns” and pointed to “other troublesome elements of public reporting.”
Axios reported in December 2020 that a Chinese woman named Fang Fang helped raise money for Swalwell’s campaign and had placed at least one intern in his office. Swalwell has said he stopped corresponding with her after federal investigators alerted him to their concerns about briefed Congress about Fang in 2015. Authorities have not charged him with any wrongdoing.
On Sunday, McCarthy added: “You have Adam Schiff, who lied to the American public time and again – we will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either. Look at Congresswoman Omar, her antisemitic comments that have gone forward. We’re not going to allow her to be on Foreign Affairs.”
Omar drew criticism from colleagues on both sides of the aisle in February 2019 when she wrote, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” in response to a tweet about McCarthy’s promise to take “action” against her over her criticism of Israel. The “Squad” member later suggested that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was paying politicians to take a positive stance on Israel.
She ultimately apologized and thanked colleagues for “educating [her] on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
McCarthy on Sunday said in addition to removing the lawmakers from their committees, “We’re also going to stand up to what’s happening, not just in the halls in Congress, but what’s happening to our higher education institutions, the antisemitism that’s going on on these campuses and others.”
“We will investigate that as well and stop this to make sure that America does have the freedoms that we said we would keep, and we will stand up to it as we move forward,” he said.
McCarthy successfully fended off a leadership challenge from Representative Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) last week. McCarthy defeated Biggs, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, in a 188-31 secret-ballot vote to become the party’s nominee for speaker.
The 31 votes for Biggs could prove difficult for McCarthy in January, when he will need to secure at least 218 votes from the entire House to win the speakership. Assuming that all Democrats oppose McCarthy for the speakership, he can only afford to lose a few Republican votes in a House with a razor-thin majority.
Biggs and Republican Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Matt Rosendale of Montana have said they will not support McCarthy.
