Kevin McCarthy Says He’ll Remove 3 Democrats From Committees If Republicans Win House

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) says that he will stop three Democrats from serving on committees if the Republicans win back the House in the upcoming 2022 election.

This comes after the Democrats removed Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and Paul Gosar (R-Arizona). They were removed for inciting “political violence in their rhetoric.” Green encouraged her supporters to take violent action against Democratic lawmakers. Gosar posted a video of an anime version of himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York). McCarthy identified Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), Adam Schiff (D-California) and Eric Swalwell (D-California) as his targets.

“The Democrats have created a new thing where they’re picking and choosing who could be on a committee. Never in the history have you had the majority tell the minority who could be on a committee,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy’s picks are not surprising. He has already tried to remove Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee for contact with a suspected Chinese spy. He has also voiced disdain of Omar for comments that he, and members of both parties, found antisemitic. McCarthy targeted Schiff, who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee because he used a “discredited dossier,” referring to the Steele Dossier which explores former President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

“It is always difficult to take Kevin McCarthy seriously,” Lauren French, Schiff’s spokesperson said in a statement. “Nevertheless, allowing McCarthy to get anywhere near the Speaker’s gavel would be catastrophic — not just because of his propensity for falsehoods and smears, but because he will exist solely to do Donald Trump’s bidding — even potentially overturning the 2024 results.”