Rep. Gaetz Destroys Rep. Schiff: 'He Should Be Removed as House Intelligence Chairman'

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, questions constitutional scholars during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the constitutional grounds for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

In February 2018, Rep. Devin Nunes and his staff publicly released a memo arguing that there were some very serious issues with the FBI investigation into the so-called Russia Collusion from Team Trump. They especially pointed at FISA warrants that seemed to have been granted to the FBI based on flawed (or even downright dishonest) information. Shortly after, Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff and his team released a memo of their own, arguing that the Nunes memo was completely and utterly wrong.

Appearing on Fox News, Rep. Matt Gaetz (a Republican from Florida) had a thing or two to say on this matter. “When Devin Nunes put out his memo and Schiff put out his response, you heard the mainstream media say: ‘Oh, the Nunes memo has now been debunked by the Schiff memo, this is obviously the truth’,” Gaetz said. “Well, we now have something that we rarely get in Washington politics: an actual verdict. An actual result from the Obama-appointed Inspector General saying Nunes was right all along, Schiff was wrong.”

Although that’s a great point — and although it may actually help Republicans electorally — it is also a problem. “Why does that matter?” Gaetz asked rhetorically. “Schiff is not just a member of Congress, he’s a member of the Gang of 8. So there’s intelligence as an Armed Services Committee member that I cannot see, but I have to rely on Schiff and others in the Gang of 8 to correctly assess that intelligence and give us their accurate perceptions.”

“That is one of the reasons that I have filed legislation expressing the sense of the House that Schiff should be removed as the Intelligence Chairman so that we at least get clear eyes on the most important intelligence analysis that faces the country,” Gaetz concluded.

It has to be said: for the longest time, House Republicans acted like a bunch of spineless weaklings. That has changed in the last few months, however. Suddenly, they are standing up for themselves and their president. It’s quite a sight to behold: Republican members of Congress actually playing hardball.

Follow me on Twitter: @GalienMichael.