(Headline USA) Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced a resolution this week to permanently bar Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., from accessing classified information just days after Schiff was kicked off the House Intelligence Committee.
Citing Schiff’s “baseless claims” of collusion between former President Donald Trump and Russia, Gaetz said the PENCIL Resolution, an apparent riff off of Trump’s “Pencil-Neck” nickname for Schiff, would subject Schiff to a House Ethics Committee and prevent him from gaining access to classified hearings.
“Congressman Adam Schiff led the effort for years to weaponize lies from the Clinton campaign and a corrupt Department of Justice to smear President Trump while destroying any trust the country had left in America’s intelligence agencies,” Gaetz said in a statement.
Gaetz acknowledged that barring a member of Congress from classified information is unprecedented, but said Schiff’s dereliction of duty warrants it.
“Every member of Congress can access classified information by virtue of their election. Only the most egregious actions would warrant removal, and Adam Schiff has undoubtedly crossed the Rubicon,” Gaetz explained. “Democrats have willfully ignored the national security consequences of members like Schiff misrepresenting and leaking classified information to the press.”
Gaetz also expressed support for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s, R-Calif., decision to remove Schiff from the House Intelligence Committee.
“He can no longer be trusted by his colleagues in Congress or the American people,” Gaetz said of Schiff.
Schiff has blasted McCarthy’s decision as unfairly “political,” but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to raise money off of it. In fact, this week he launched a 2024 Senate bid, claiming that U.S. democracy is “under assault from MAGA extremists.”
“I wish I could say the threat of MAGA extremists is over,” he said in a video on Twitter. “It is not. Today’s Republican Party is gutting the middle class, threatening our democracy. They aren’t going to stop. We have to stop them.”
