Fury over Speaker Mike Johnson's appointment of an extremist to the House intelligence Committee forced the return of an unlikely voice — his ousted predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
McCarthy was among the Republicans who called Johnson last week seeking an explanation for why Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) had been named to the panel, which the former House speaker had worked to depoliticize, reported the Washington Post.
"He has reversed course on this committee, and has now made it political again," said one high-ranking Republican. "He has reversed all the advances, which could harm America’s preparedness. This is not a place to play games. This is not a place to appease somebody. This is where you got to do the real work.”
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Johnson explained to McCarthy and other concerned Republicans that he appointed the pair because Trump had urged him to do so, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. But GOP lawmakers weren't satisfied with that rationale.
“I think we’re letting the executive branch, in this case, compel the speaker of the House and legislative branch to fill two critical spots that we have, frankly, more qualified people for,” said one House Republican on the intelligence panel.
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The House Intelligence Committee frequently receives highly classified briefings on sensitive national security matters, and Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) and Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) expressed their concerns to Johnson, who argued that Trump wanted the pair's perspectives to be heard on the panel.
“You appease those people, what gives everybody else the reason to do the right thing by encouraging bad behavior?” Joyce said.
Perry, who played a key role in Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election loss, claimed that he intended to conduct "actual oversight" as a member of the committee, while Jackson, a former White House physician, praised chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) for helping to “restore the American people’s complete faith in our intelligence community.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing what their definition of real oversight looks like compared to what we’ve been doing,” said one lawmaker who expressed concerns about Perry.
Jackson was Trump's disgraced White House doctor and is a Texas congressman who is a staunch ally of the former president. Over the weekend, Trump was ridiculed after flubbing his name.
