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By: The opinion Posted Jun 21, 2023, 20:54 pm EDT
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to censure the Democratic representative adam schiffa key lawmaker in investigations by the previous session of Congress into donald trump during his presidency, according to CNN.
Resolution accuses Schiff of misleading the American people while conducting the congressional investigation into Russia and Trump’s election campaign when he was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and for actions Schiff took prior to the former president’s first impeachment trial. Schiff has dismissed the allegations as “false and defamatory.”
The vote was 213-209 along party lines. The Republican members of the House Ethics Committee (Michael Guest of Mississippi, Dave Joyce of Ohio, Andrew Garbarino of New York, John Rutherford of Florida, and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota) voted present. Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado also voted present, but is not on the Ethics Committee.
As part of the censorship procedure, Schiff stood in the pit on the House floor while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy repeatedly tried to read out a short rule on censorship. Schiff joined his fellow Democrats on the House floor, who cheered loudly and repeatedly interrupted McCarthy.
The effort to censure Schiff, who is running for a US Senate seat from California, cleared a key procedural hurdle Wednesday afternoon after an earlier vote to strike down the censure measure failed.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, led the effort with a renewed measure on the House floor after a similar measure she also endorsed failed last week.
Luna announced Tuesday that he had secured the number of votes needed to censure Schiff and refer him to the House Ethics Committee.
On Tuesday, before the vote, Schiff called the move “a badge of honor” and said: “They wouldn’t go after me if they didn’t think I was effective.”
“Now Trump is threatening to run any Republican who does not vote for him. It shows you who is behind all this effort to divert attention from Trump’s legal problems,” Schiff told CNN. “But wasting time on this false and defamatory resolution is a disservice to the country.”
While serving as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff announced a sweeping investigation in February 2019 into the finances of then-President Trump and Russia.
Schiff also served as the House’s lead impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment trial.
In that paper, Schiff and the other impeachers detailed the House’s case for removing Trump from office in the Senate trial. The Senate ultimately voted to acquit then-President Trump.
Keep reading:
– Start ‘impeachment’ of Trump: read articles that accuse him of abuse of power and obstruction
– Democrats warn that acquitting Trump in his impeachment trial may be a risky precedent
– Promise kept: Kevin McCarthy kicks Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell off intelligence panel