As the current Congress got underway in January, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made no effort to hide one of his top priorities: He was determined to punish Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff. The Republican’s case against his fellow Californian was “specious and vague,” and some of the speaker’s attacks were “based on figments of imagination,” but McCarthy proceeded anyway.
When the GOP leader set out to kick Schiff off the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana issued a statement describing the effort as a “charade,” adding, “Speaker McCarthy needs to stop ‘bread and circuses’ in Congress and start governing for a change.”
He ignored her and proceeded to hold a successful vote to remove the Democrat from the panel he ably chaired.
Six months later, the anti-Schiff campaign continues. NBC News reported:
The House on Wednesday rejected a GOP-backed effort to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., with almost two dozen Republican lawmakers bucking their party’s attempt to publicly rebuke him. The House voted 225-196 to set aside the resolution, introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., to censure Schiff over his role in the House investigation into Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.
From a reality-based perspective, this was a “good news/bad news” result. The good news is the resolution failed because 20 House Republicans rejected this nonsense, which had the effect of blocking a vote on the censure resolution itself. The bad news is 196 House Republicans — nearly 90% of the conference — were content to go along.
They should’ve known better. The resolution — which called for an ethics investigation into Schiff and sought a $16 million fine — was predicated in large part on the idea that the former House Intelligence Committee chairman lied about the seriousness of Donald Trump’s Russia scandal.
But whether Republicans want to hear this or not, the seriousness of Trump’s Russia scandal has not been discredited, and when Schiff said there was “ample evidence” connecting the former president’s political operation and his Russian benefactors, he was correct. In fact, a Senate Intelligence Committee’s report — written in part by the panel’s then-Republican majority — at one point literally described a “direct tie between senior Trump Campaign officials and the Russian intelligence services.” Years later, it appears much of the GOP not only wants to relitigate this, they’re also eager to punish Schiff for daring to point to inconvenient truths. Making matters slightly worse, the Democratic congressman’s critics apparently intend to keep the crusade going. A Washington Post report on the developments noted, “As Schiff spoke to reporters after the vote, Luna rolled by on a foot scooter and interrupted him by saying she’ll file the same measure next week.” Postscript: If you look at the roll call, you’ll note that five House Democrats voted “present” Wednesday, but that’s not because they’re Schiff critics. Those five members serve on the House Ethics Committee, and as a Politico report noted, “Democratic ethics panel members generally vote present on any ethics matters that come before the House.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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