WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday booted Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) from his position as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Some Republicans on the committee were surprised by the move, and Democrats claimed it would outright endanger the United States.
“Mike Turner has robustly promoted the safety of the American people and the Free World, and his unjustified ouster is likely being applauded by our adversaries in Russia and China,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “Shameful.”
Johnson told reporters on Wednesday evening he had nothing against Turner and that the Ohio Republican had done a good job chairing the influential committee. He said the committee simply needed a fresh start.
Turner has backed U.S. military support for Ukraine in its defensive war against an invasion by Russia — a position that’s increasingly unpopular among Republicans. And he opposed requiring U.S. spy agencies to get court approval if their wiretaps of foreign sources catch communications with U.S. citizens — a reform sought by far-right Republicans and progressive Democrats alike.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a member of the Intelligence Committee, said he didn’t know who was behind Turner’s ouster, but if their goal was to undercut mainstream Republican “national defense types,” it wouldn’t work, since President-elect Donald Trump is nominating people like Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to be his national security adviser and former Rep. John Ratcliff (R-Texas) to lead the CIA.
“We’re going to win, and all you’re doing is creating bad blood in the process,” Crenshaw said Thursday. “But that’s what some people just like to do.”
Turner angered some Republicans last year by warning of a mysterious “national security threat” and urging President Joe Biden to disclose more information. The warning prompted Johnson to make a quick statement assuring the American people that there was “no cause for alarm.” The threat turned out to be a Russian anti-satellite weapon that the White House said couldn’t cause destruction on earth.
Soon afterward, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, suggested Turner created a panic just to boost support for Ukraine funding and a reauthorization of the government’s warrantless wiretapping program — and that he should lose his gavel as a result.
In a statement Wednesday, Turner said simply that he’d returned the Intelligence Committee to its national security mission. “The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations,” he said.
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Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters Thursday he wasn’t involved in the Intelligence Committee and that he didn’t think Freedom Caucus members had pushed for Turner’s removal.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, suggested Trump or someone in Trump’s orbit forced Turner out, which Johnson denied.
“The removal of Chairman Turner makes our nation less secure and is a terrible portent for what’s to come,” Himes said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “The Constitution demands that Congress function as a check and balance to the Executive Branch, not cater to its demands.”