Rep. Adam B. Schiff was censured Wednesday by House Republicans over his false accusations about former President Donald Trump’s supposed collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The motion passed along party lines, 213-209, with six GOP lawmakers voting present. Six other House members, three Republicans and three Democrats, did not vote.
Democrats converged in the middle of the House chamber chanting “shame” and “disgrace” as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy read the final votes.
Mr. Schiff told reporters he was flattered that he could be considered so effective that Republicans felt the need to censure him.
“It’s a badge of honor. And I’m proud to have stood up to Trump and defended our democracy, and I will continue to do so no matter what they throw my way,” the California Democrat said. “But these are the authors of the big lie attacking you for telling the truth and history.”
The California lawmaker stood in the well of the chamber flanked by his fellow Democrats who cheered him on, chanting “Adam! Adam!”
The Democratic lawmakers heckled Mr. McCarthy and their Republican colleagues as they converged around Mr. Schiff creating a protective barrier in the well of the chamber.
“What goes around comes around,” one Democratic lawmaker yelled. “You voted to protect [Rep. George] Santos,” another shouted.
This is the second time in the past week that the privileged resolution condemning the California Democrat was brought by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Florida Republican.
The first attempt to censure Mr. Schiff last week failed because too many Republicans disagreed with the earlier resolution’s $16 million fine, so 20 GOP lawmakers voted with the Democrats to table it 225-196, with seven lawmakers voting present and five not voting.
However, Ms. Luna changed the language and removed the fine, gaining support from the 20 GOP lawmakers who previously voted to table it. On Tuesday night, she announced she had secured their support.
“To be clear, this is not retribution. The GOP recently voted to refer one of our own to Ethics for investigation,” she said. “The fact is, as you saw today with Hunter Biden and the DOJ, there is a double standard of justice in this country.”
Censure is a rare form of punishment in the House. Only two members have been censured since 2010: Republican Paul Gosar of Arizona and Democrat Charles B. Rangel of New York.
Ms. Luna’s censure against Mr. Schiff condemned the California lawmaker over his claims that Mr. Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.
Democrats told reporters earlier in the day that the measure was just an effort to distract from Mr. Trump’s legal troubles with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who indicted the former president on 37 federal counts of mishandling classified information.
“These are people who already appointed themselves as judge and jury to acquit Donald Trump of a profoundly serious offense of pilfering and possessing national security documents and refusing to return them,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat and member of the now-defunct January 6 Select Committee. “Now they want to censure Adam Schiff for doing his job. I mean, that is a weapon of mass distraction.”
The measure condemns and censures Mr. Schiff for spreading “false accusations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia” and that he “perpetuated false allegations from the Steele Dossier accusing numerous Trump associates of colluding with Russia into the Congressional Record.”
The resolution says Mr. Schiff abused his power as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, wielding it against Mr. Trump’s campaign allies.
He was “abusing privileged access to classified information, Representative Schiff released a memo justifying the accuracy of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application on Trump associate Carter Page.”
Mr. Schiff was the top Democrat on the intelligence panel for several years until this Congress, when Mr. McCarthy removed him and Rep. Eric Swalwell, California Democrat, from the committee.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated who read the final vote tally.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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