OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:26 PM – Wednesday, June 21, 2023
The House censured one of its own members, Democrat Representative Adam Schiff, on Wednesday for his criticisms of former President Donald Trump and his participation in spearheading the first impeachment investigation into the 45th president.
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A censure is the House’s formal rejection of a lawmaker’s wrongdoing. Even in today’s polarized political environment, condemnation of this magnitude is somewhat rare.
The 213-209 party-line vote came precisely one week after a similar attempt to reprimand Schiff (D-Calif.) was defeated after 20 Republicans joined Democrats in blocking the resolution over concerns about a measure that called for a $16 million fine.
However, the resolution’s author, freshman Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), stated this week that she had gained the backing of the 20 GOP dissidents after removing language concerning fines.
Following the vote, Schiff was directed to the House floor to receive a verbal reprimand read by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Democrats yelled “Shame!” and “Disgrace!”
The resolution also directs the House Ethics Committee to probe Schiff’s censure, where six Republicans voted present.
“The perpetrator of this web of deceit became mainstays on cable news, waking up every morning with one goal: to lie, lie, lie to the American people that there was direct evidence of Russia collusion,” Luna said in a floor speech prior to the vote.
The investigation prompted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find any collusion whatsoever between the Trump campaign and Russia.
During the Trump administration, Schiff was the chairman and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, and he became the face of Democrat-led accusations, claiming that members of Trump’s 2016 campaign team colluded with Russia to defeat Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.
Schiff is currently running for an open Senate seat in California.
McCarthy, an ally of Trump, single-handedly ousted Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the Intelligence Committee in January.
“I think once Donald Trump threatened that any Republicans who didn’t go along with his effort to censure me were going to get primaried, they fell in line… They just cannot stand up to this most unethical, now-indicted president,” an angry Schiff told reporters on the steps of the Capitol before the vote.
“As [Franklin D.] Roosevelt said, sometimes you can judge a person by the enemies they make,” he continued. “Judging from the kind of crazy people that were on the floor today in support of this resolution, I’m doing really well measured by that standard.”
Schiff is the 25th member of Congress to be censured by the House. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), a Republican and member of the hardline Freedom Caucus, was censured previously for sharing an edited anime-style video on Twitter portraying him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
The censure before that had occurred more than a decade prior, when the House censured Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on December 2nd, 2010, for a number of ethics infractions, including utilizing congressional letterhead for fundraising and filing false financial reports and federal tax returns.
Democrats still consistently backed Schiff in floor remarks and interviews, particularly those who worked closely with him on the Intelligence Committee.
“Adam Schiff did his job. He spoke the truth, and he held Donald Trump accountable,” Rep. Jason Crow, (D-Colo.) said in an interview. “And demagogues like Donald Trump don’t like that. They don’t like people calling them out.”
Crow’s assertion came off as puzzling and foolish to many viewers who made remarks on it via social media platforms.
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