Members of the House Intelligence Committee made it painfully clear to House Speaker Mike Johnson that he had to make a responsible choice in filling two vacancies on the panel. The Intelligence Committee has been deliberately trying to avoid partisan food fights lately, fearing Johnson would ruin this by imposing fanatical ideologues on the panel.
Moreover, the Republican speaker had entirely credible alternatives from his own party interested in the slots. Rep. For example, Tony Gonzales of Texas has a background as a Navy cryptologist, so it stands to reason that he would fit in on the Intelligence Committee.
All Johnson had to do was radicals like Texas Rep. Ronnie Jacksonwho was demoted from the Pentagon amid scandalous allegations of misconduct, and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, who was up to his ears in the scandal surrounding the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, even having his phone seized by the FBI was seized.
This week, Johnson appointed Perry and Jackson to the House Intelligence Committee.
The Democrats were not happy. Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia, for example, called the appointments “an embarrassment and a threat to national security.”
But they weren’t the only ones. The New York Times reported that the Speaker of the House of Representatives didn’t even bother to notify Representative Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and PunchBowl News reported that Johnson’s move “is causing fear at the Capitol,” adding “Several members of the committee – Republicans and Democrats – say they have concerns about the panel’s integrity in the wake of Johnson’s nomination of the couple.”
Reporter Jake Sherman added that the speaker “really pissed off the members of the Intelligence Committee, who dumped on him and [saying] this was a stupid, clownish move.” Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a retired Air Force pilot, described the move as “insane.”
So why on earth did the Speaker of the House of Representatives pick two unqualified extremists for the House Intelligence Committee, even after members of the panel urged him not to? The PunchBowl News report added this gem:
Oh. So Donald Trump wanted unqualified loyalists to have access to many of the country’s most sensitive and highly classified secrets, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives followed the thug’s directive, as if he were an employee of the failed former president in place of the most powerful member of Congress.
The effects are likely to reverberate. For starters, Johnson’s position within his conference was already shaky, and alienating members at Trump’s behest will not do him any favors in the months and years to come.
On the other hand, Kevin McCarthy has built a reputation as one of the weakest House speakers in American history. The more Johnson lets his party’s presumptive nominee take charge on Capitol Hill, the more he will gain a similar reputation.
And finally, there are broader implications to consider. The Times report added: “The panel has historically operated in a bipartisan manner, consisting largely of serious lawmakers rather than fierce partisans. The break with tradition raised concerns that the intelligence community could back down on the sensitive national security information it shares with Congress.”
Not surprisingly, Trump doesn’t care, but Johnson has a responsibility to take such concerns seriously. This week he failed spectacularly at a basic task.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
