With the November midterm elections this year, House Republicans have been warning of taking retaliatory action against Democrats should the GOP win back the majority. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff responded to the threats made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy over committee assignments.
Speaking on CNN’s “Outfront” Tuesday, Schiff responded to the threats by McCarthy of being one of the House Democrats that he would strip committee assignments from should he become House Speaker. Schiff said that McCarthy, rather than leading his caucus, is being led by the extremist members of his party that are more into taking retaliatory action due to having been removed from committees themselves.
“I think the reality is McCarthy is a very weak leader,” said Schiff. “And as a result, he is already being led around by the most extreme elements of his conference – the Marjorie Taylor Greenes and others that are calling for retribution because of their removal.”
Schiff went on to explain how McCarthy broke precedent by failing to control the members of his caucus and hold them accountable for their mistakes, forcing the Democratic Party to take action. The Democratic congressman cited the censuring of Republican Rep. Paul Gosar for glorifying violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Greene’s anti-semitic social media posts and conspiracy theories.
Schiff also suggested that regardless of what Democrats do, McCarthy will ultimately be taking orders from former President Donald Trump.
“More importantly though…than whatever he might do vis-a-vis Democrats and committee assignments is the fact that he will do whatever Donald Trump wants him to do, and if Donald Trump wants him to overturn the next election because Trump loses again, McCarthy will do it, and that is a real and present threat to our democracy,” said Schiff.
Meanwhile, the House Select Committee probing the January 6 Capitol insurrection has now requested for McCarthy’s testimony in its investigation, according to CNN. This follows the committee’s issuing of subpoenas Wednesday to two former advisers to Donald Trump Jr., Andrew Surabian and Arthur Schwartz, and an adviser to the former president Ross Worthington.
Worthington was reportedly the one responsible for Trump’s speech on January 6. However, the part where the former president urged his supporters to walk to the Capitol was not part of the draft.