GOP House Lawmakers Fail To Pass Censure Vote That Called For Adam Schiff’s Resignation
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff will continue to serve as a congressman after a privileged resolution vote to censure the lawmaker — which also called for his resignation — failed to pass on Monday with a 218-185 vote against the measure.
According to The Hill, Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs was allegedly the driving force behind the GOP-led effort to officially censure Schiff, who has emerged as the leader of President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry investigations.
House Republicans were not pleased with Schiff’s interpretation of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a September hearing, which Republicans claim Schiff greatly exaggerated, though Schiff would later on say that his recap of the call was meant as parody. That event was supposedly the spark for Biggs and his Republican allies that would eventually lead to a censure vote.
Biggs indicated in the censure resolution that Schiff’s account of the phone call between the two leaders was “egregiously false and fabricated retelling” and “had no relationship to the call itself.”
GOP lawmakers also slammed Schiff for his original claim that his committee hadn’t had any contact with the whistleblower before they filed an official complaint about the Ukrainian phone-call controversy, though it would later be revealed that the individual had spoken to one of Schiff’s staffers about the matter beforehand.
Biggs went on to claim that Schiff made “a mockery of the impeachment process, one of this chamber’s most solemn constitutional duties,” and accused the lawmaker misleading the American people.
The resolution had a number of high-profile sponsors, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise, and Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney.
While blasting Schiff for what he says is a loss of credibility for the House, McCarthy echoed Biggs’ statements in regards to Schiff misleading Americans on the subject.
For years, Adam Schiff has lied to the American people. Tonight we vote on @RepAndyBiggsAZ motion to condemn and censure Chairman Schiff for misleading the public. His behavior is beneath the office of a member of Congress, let alone Chairman of a committee. pic.twitter.com/DgBBd7tOpM
— Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) October 21, 2019
“On numerous occasions, as outlined in this resolution, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has used his position to mislead the American people,” McCarthy wrote. “When false evidence is entered into the official record, or communicated directly to the American people, the people’s House loses the credibility it needs to function properly.”
The vote came on the same day Trump suggested to the White House press corps that Schiff could “possibly” be the whistleblower, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.
“Maybe the informant was Schiff. In my opinion, it’s possibly Schiff. Why didn’t Schiff say he and his staff, or his staff?'” Trump asked rhetorically, after questioning why an informant who gave an honest testimony would need to be protected and kept secret.
