House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) declared that he intends to remove Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell (Calif), Adam Schiff (Calif.), and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) from their congressional committee assignments when Republicans take control of Congress, Axios reports.
During his Sunday appearance on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures, McCarthy vowed to keep promises he made in January to remove the three representatives from their respective committees. Though he can unilaterally remove members of select committees, doing so in a standing committee would require a vote. McCarthy reiterated his vow to remove Swalwell and Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee and Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. McCarthy cited Swalwell's alleged links to a Chinese spy, Schiff's promotion of the Steele dossier, and Omar's critiques of Israel as reasons to disqualify them from serving on their committees, per Fox News.
McCarthy's renewed commitment to removing the three Democratic representatives comes as he works to secure the vote for House Speaker. McCarthy recently won the GOP nomination for Speaker and needs 218 votes to secure the role in January.
"Last year, I promised that when I became Speaker, I would remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee based on her repeated anti-semitic and anti-American remarks. I'm keeping that promise," McCarthy wrote in a tweet accompanying a video of his appearance at the meeting.
Twitter attached context to the tweet, clarifying that the "Speaker does not have the power to remove a member from a standing committee."