Democrats should expect major committee shakeups if the GOP is able to retake the US House of Representatives, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Breitbart News in a Monday interview, claiming that the left established a precedent for panel assignments.
"The Democrats have created a new thing where they’re picking and choosing who can be on committees," McCarthy said on Monday, referring to the Democrat-majority House's decisions to oust Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) from their respective committees back in 2021.
Gosar was removed from both the House Committee on Natural Resources and House Committee on Oversight and Reform following a 223-207 vote to censure him for posting an animated video that depicted him using a sword to kill Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). AOC served alongside Gosar on the Oversight and Reform panel.
Months prior, 11 House Republicans voted with Democrats to remove Greene from her briefly-held positions on the House Committee on the Budget and the House Committee on Education and Labor. The 230-199 vote came about in relation to incendiary, conspiracy theory-laden remarks uttered by Greene prior to her election to public office.
The GOP leader has maintained that Democrats were carrying out a "partisan power grab" and established a political precedent with their moves.
McCarthy said that, in the event that Republicans retake the House, the GOP will use this new standard to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from his committee assignments—particularly his spots on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Homeland Security.
The GOP leader suggested that if Swalwell, who ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential primaries, "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."
House Republicans have previously argued that Swalwell should be pulled from committee assignments and even public office over a connection to Fang, a Chinese national accused of targeting local politicians that Beijing allegedly deemed to be up-and-coming and likely to hold higher office.
24 February 2021, 22:24 GMT
While federal investigators were involved in the matter, Swalwell was never accused of wrongdoing and reportedly cut ties with the alleged Chinese operative after US authorities made him aware of her activities. The Chinese government denied all associated allegations.
McCarthy also declared that the House Foreign Affairs Committee should no longer include Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who was at odds with members of her own party and accused by some of antisemitism last year after appearing to liken the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban*.
Omar later declared that she did not regret her comments on Israel, a country that "hypnotized the world," according to a 2012 tweet posted when she was a private citizen.
"Adam Schiff, he should not be serving on Intel," McCarthy continued, referring to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
McCarthy claimed that Schiff "lied to the American public" in supporting an unverified spy dossier authored by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) was recently appointed as the top GOP member on the US House Intelligence Committee, replacing Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who resigned from Congress to head former US President Donald Trump's most recent social media venture.
Lauren French, a spokesperson for Schiff, told Axios that while "it is always difficult to take Kevin McCarthy seriously," it would be "catastrophic" if the GOP reclaimed the chamber and the position of House Speaker.
"[H]e will exist solely to do Donald Trump’s bidding," French remarked.
Swalwell tweeted that McCarthy's continued pledge to unseat Democrats is an attempt to make up for his inability to quell extremist elements in the Republican party.
"McCarthy is targeting me for 1 reason: I’m effective. He wants to carry water (& sort Starbursts) for Trump’s Big Lie & not be called out," tweeted Swalwell, referring to Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
"He’s projecting onto me b/c he’s incapable of facing down the Ku Klux Klan elements in his caucus," he added. "If he thinks he’s silencing me, he’s not."
McCarthy's comments came as part of a long-form video taped in December 2021 at an Eastern Market establishment in Washington DC.
*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries