Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich isn’t one to suffer fools, which explains why he took on Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) over the weekend as Republicans appear set to take over control of the House and remove Nancy Pelosi from the Speakership.
Gingrich set Schiff straight after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is on a path to replace Pelosi, pledged to remove Schiff, along with Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from their committee assignments.
“I think Nancy Pelosi set the precedent. She did something that had never been done before and reached into the minority party to decide who could and could not serve on some committees. I think Kevin McCarthy is following her precedent,” he told Fox News on Monday.
“So the Democrats have nothing to complain about because they started this dance and frankly, the three people he’s picked so totally deserve to be kicked off committees. It’s unbelievable,” he continued.
“Adam Schiff made a career out of lying to the American people while serving as chairman of the Intelligence Committee without any question, just plain, flat-out lying,” he added.
“Swalwell has had a relationship with a Chinese communist. That’s unimaginable for somebody who’s going to have security clearance,” the former Georgia Republican added.
“So I think those are three pretty good targets. And I commend Speaker-designate McCarthy for taking them head-on.”
Over the weekend, McCarthy confirmed that he would seek to oust those Dems from their committee assignments; Schiff is currently chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of which Swalwell is a member.
“One thing I said from the very beginning, Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector,” he said. “Why would we ever give him a security clearance and the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel.”
“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,” he told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. “Look at Congresswoman Omar, her antisemitic comments that have gone forward. We’re not going to allow her to be on Foreign Affairs.”
But 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,” he added.
“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.”