McCarthy’s Attempt to Oust Swalwell From House Intel Committee Backfires

This week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Q-California) tried to have Rep. Eric Swalwell removed from the House Intelligence Committee because of his association with a woman who was alleged to be a Chinese spy during the 2010s. But House Democrats weren’t having any of it.

The House rejected McCarthy’s resolution calling for Swalwell to be kicked off the Committee. At issue was Swalwell’s connection to Christine Fang, who helped with fundraising for his 2014 campaign. After federal investigators made Swalwell aware of their concerns and briefed Congress on the issue in 2015, the California lawmaker says that he cut ties. He was not charged with any wrongdoing.

Of course, McCarthy and the rest of the GOP conveniently overlook the facts whenever tweeting against Swalwell, because they need the manufactured distraction from the continuing investigation into the January 6th insurrection as well as Trump’s upcoming prosecutions in New York and Georgia.

Meet the New McCarthyism. Multiple sentences in resolution state “Swalwell has not denied…” Yet fails to include multiple FBI statements of “no wrongdoing” and did nothing but “cooperate.” All of this to deflect from @GOPLeader’s support for QAnon. https://t.co/2bsU72ev8H

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) March 18, 2021

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff reiterated that Swalwell was never suspected of any wrongdoing. Schiff described Swalwell as a “trusted member of our committee” and argued that McCarthy was merely trying to take revenge against the congressman because of his role in Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. Swalwell was among the impeachment managers.

Meanwhile, McCarthy’s efforts have only served to shine an even brighter light on his own inappropriate behavior. During an MSNBC interview, Swalwell said that McCarthy’s effort to boot him from the committee was an attempt at retribution for the role he played in Trump’s trial last month.

.@MaddowBlog: If House Minority Leader McCarthy really wants to talk about which party is "choosing politics over national security," he may not like where this conversation ends up.https://t.co/qZyhdB79bn

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 20, 2021

McCarthy has also been walking back his comments that he never supported overturning the election in an attempt to stay in the Former Guy’s good graces.

We can't let House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy or others get away with claiming they didn't side with Trump and try to overturn the election results.

147 members of Congress did–they attacked our democracy, and we can't let them rewrite history. https://t.co/YCV7Kpg99b

— Noah Bookbinder (@NoahBookbinder) March 19, 2021