The House of Representatives voted this week to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) over a number of false statements regarding alleged collusion between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government. The effort led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) passed after a first vote failed in the House last week.
The measure passed in a party-line vote Wednesday, 213 to 209. Six Republicans voted present on the motion. Members of the House Democratic caucus chanted “Shame! Shame!” as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) read Luna’s resolution.
Schiff is only the third member of the House to be censured in the past 30 years.
As a result of the resolution, the House Ethics Committee will investigate the representative for “falsehoods, misrepresentations and abuses of sensitive information.”
Five of the six Republicans who voted present serve on the committee which will investigate Schiff.
Luna introduced a separate motion to censure the California Democrat, which failed due to the defection of 20 House Republicans. One, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), said that he opposed the measure because it included a proposed $16 million fine against Schiff, which he said was unconstitutional.
The fine was about half of the cost of the investigation into the Trump-Russia claims.
The second vote did not include the fine.
BREAKING: Democrat Adam Schiff has been officially censured by the House of Representatives for abusing his position on the Intelligence Committee to repeatedly lie to the American people pic.twitter.com/psfEX1jP1f
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 21, 2023
Schiff positioned himself as one of the highest-profile critics of Trump during his tenure in the White House.
In particular, Schiff utilized his former role on the House Intelligence Committee to claim that Trump’s first presidential campaign worked with the Russian government.
However, Schiff’s claims were proven incorrect in two separate investigations. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller reported after a lengthy probe that the allegations were unfounded.
Furthermore, special counsel John Durham went further, issuing a report which stated that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI each did not have the appropriate evidence necessary to start an investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.
Schiff has not apologized for his earlier claims.
McCarthy removed Schiff and fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the committee earlier this year.
“Schiff has lied too many times to the American public,” McCarthy said in January. “He should not be on Intel.”
