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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is escalating his campaign to kick Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) off the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, with a resolution to strip him of that panel assignment on the House floor.
McCarthy’s resolution cites Swalwell not denying “public reporting that a suspected Chinese intelligence operative helped raise money” for his campaign and helped interns seek potential positions in his office.
Swalwell was one of several California politicians reportedly targeted by a suspected Chinese spy who did fundraising work for his campaign; when the FBI let him know of their suspicions in 2015, he cut off contact. House leaders were also read in on Swalwell’s situation in 2015, according to people familiar with the briefings, and Swalwell was selected to serve on the Intelligence Committee anyway.
The allegations resurfaced late last year, prompting a briefing to McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). McCarthy emerged from that briefing calling for Swalwell to be removed from the Intelligence Committee; Pelosi, however, said she had no concerns about letting Swalwell continue to serve on the panel.
The speaker and minority leader appoint members to serve on the committee.
Leading Democrats defended Swalwell on Thursday in the face of McCarthy’s latest move.
“Congressman Swalwell is a trusted and valued member of our committee … he will continue to make great contributions to our national security,” Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a statement.
At a news conference Thursday and then later on the House floor, McCarthy charged that based on what has been publicly reported, Swalwell “cannot get a security clearance in the private sector.”
“Only in Congress could he get appointed to learn all the secrets of America — that’s wrong,” McCarthy told reporters. “If you can’t meet that bar, you shouldn’t be able to meet a bar to serve on the intel committee.”
Last month, all House Democrats and 11 Republicans voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from two committees for her embrace of certain views espoused in the extremist ideologies of QAnon, and directing threatening messages toward other members. Swalwell appeared to nod to that recent history in jeering McCarthy’s resolution against him on Twitter on Thursday.
“Meet the New McCarthyism,” Swalwell wrote, decrying McCarthy for failing to acknowledge the FBI stated he cooperated with their investigation. “All this to deflect from @GOPLeader’s support for QAnon.”
