By Jackson Richman
The House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on June 21, a week after an initial resolution to do so was tabled.
The measure passed along party lines on a vote of 213–209. Six Republicans voted “present.”
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), denounces Schiff, a Democrat, for allegedly perpetuating misinformation against former President Donald Trump. With the passing of the resolution, Schiff has been referred to the House Ethics Committee for investigation.
The resolution was privileged and therefore triggered a House vote. In last week’s vote, 20 Republicans joined 205 Democrats to table the initial resolution.
The revised resolution was similar to the initial one, with the notable difference being that it doesn’t include a $16 million fine for Schiff should he be held accountable by the House Ethics Committee for his alleged “falsehoods, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information.” The proposed $16 million fine is half of the taxpayer cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The new resolution, like the tabled one, condemns Schiff, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, for perpetuating the notion there was collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. That was debunked by Mueller in 2019, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz later the same year, and special counsel John Durham in May.
Durham testified on June 20 at a closed-door hearing before the House Intelligence Committee and also gave testimony in a public hearing on June 21 in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
Additionally, the new resolution didn’t state that “Schiff used his position and access to sensitive information to instigate a fraudulently based investigation, which he then used to amass political gain and fundraising dollars.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave credence on June 15 to the 20 House Republicans that joined Democrats in tabling the initial resolution.
“I think everybody knows my thoughts of Adam Schiff,” McCarthy told The Epoch Times. “That’s why I removed him from the House Intelligence Committee. You have a number of members on principle that sat and argued for the last four years with President Donald Trump that you had to have due process and voted that way. And I think a number of them believe that they should have gone to the House Ethics Committee first.”
Ahead of the vote on the revised resolution, Schiff appeared defiant on the House floor.
“To my Republican colleagues who introduced this resolution, I thank you. You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood,” he said.
“You who are the authors of the Big Lie about the last election must condemn the truth-tellers and I stand proudly before you. Your words tell me I have been effective in the defense of our democracy and I am grateful,” Schiff continued. “And yet this false and defamatory resolution comes at a considerable cost to the country and to the Congress.”
Following the vote on the revised resolution, McCarthy, who has expressed contempt toward his fellow Californian, called Schiff to the well of the House floor that is below the dais where the clerks and speaker preside.
“Will the gentleman from California present himself in the well? By its adoption of House Resolution 521, the House has resolved that Representative Adam Schiff be censured,” McCarthy said.
“That Representative Adam Schiff forthwith present himself in the well of the House for the pronouncement of censure,” he said after Schiff went to the well. “That Representative Adam Schiff be censured with the public reading of this resolution by the Speaker.”
With a strike of the gavel, McCarthy concluded the censure.
In interviews on June 20 with The Epoch Times, Republicans were in favor while Democrats expressed opposition to the censure resolution.
“This guy’s for however many years been walking out of classified briefings and saying to the press, ‘I heard that President Trump, I was told that President Trump did this, this, this, this or this,’” said Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), referring to Schiff.
“So one, if members of Congress had to fill out an SF-86, like every other normal American to get a security clearance, he would have his denied, revoked, whatever, in about 10 seconds.”
An SF-86 form is the application to obtain a security clearance.
“And so I think that’s well worth censuring, given that it’s a direct violation of his duties to keep it simply on that,” Mast said. “So I could say a lot about the guy. None of it nice.”
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) said Schiff “lied to the American people … for years. He was extremely destructive, and I believe that he needs to be held accountable.”
However, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) remarked that the censure would be “in-kind contributions” to Schiff’s 2024 Senate campaign to succeed retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) also came to her fellow Californian’s defense, saying that Schiff “has done good work, honorably” and that “the effort to try and change a policy dispute into some kind of sanction is unprecedented and unwise.”
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) stated simply, “I believe that good behavior should be rewarded and bad behavior should be censured.”
