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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) decision to change leadership of the House Intelligence Committee sent shock waves throughout the panel and beyond, fueling concerns on both sides of the aisle about right-wing MAGA influence and how sensitive national security matters will be handled in the approaching Trump era.
Johnson declined to renominate Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) — a defense hawk and a more traditional national security-focused holdover from the era of former President Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in head of the House GOP- to chair the high-profile committee. Instead, the spokesperson chose to install Representative Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), the most senior member of the GOP of the panel that has been more skeptical of Ukraine’s help, in first place.
The change, which Johnson cemented Thursday, is setting a Trumpier tone at the top of the plum committee.
Although Turner is an ardent supporter of Ukraine, Crawford voted against a multibillion-dollar aid package for Kiev last year. Crawford, in a statement announcing his new presidency, expressed concern that “abuse within our nation’s security apparatus has eroded trust in our institutions.” And while Turner voted to certify the 2020 election, Crawford opposed certifying voters in both Pennsylvania and Arizona.
The unexpected nature of the roster change is raising questions among panel members about the approach the committee will take moving forward and directing some of the ire at Johnson.
“It came out of nowhere. There’s no good explanation,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said of Turner’s removal. “A lot of experience and knowledge is gone with Mike Turner. It’s not obvious what Johnson has in mind for the future, so we all have questions and concerns.”
“There has been too much disruption in one of the most important committees in Congress,” Crenshaw said, adding, “It’s all happened under Johnson’s leadership.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), another member of the panel, pointed to Trump’s apparent influence in the decision. One GOP lawmaker told The Hill that “Mar-a-Lago vetoed Turner.”
“It’s a disturbing trend of a kind of purge of anyone who isn’t a lackey of Donald Trump,” Castro said.
Johnson and a Trump spokesman, meanwhile, have denied that the president-elect ordered the president to remove Turner from the panel, with the president stressing that he made the decision of his own volition. Johnson, as chairman, has the unilateral power to appoint the chairman and panel members.
“This is not a Mar-a-Lago decision or a Trump decision. This is a spokesperson decision. There is a lot of deliberative thought that goes into these things. The Intel Committee is extremely important, especially at a time like this, and it is time for a fresh start,” Johnson said in response to a question from The Hill, citing “abuses” within the intelligence community.
“We have to clean all this up, and it will be time for reform and all that,” he added.
That response, however, hasn’t stopped members on both sides of the aisle from worrying about the president-elect’s influence moving forward.
“I don’t think he’s shown enough loyalty to President Trump,” committee member Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) said of Turner’s impeachment. “It’s very, very troubling, and President Trump hasn’t been sworn in yet. And these kinds of changes, big sea changes, are happening. Speaker Johnson, in my opinion, just usurped a good part of his power, the power of Article I, as far as I can tell in President Trump’s request to cut the requirement.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said he thought any involvement by Trump was motivated by his own run-ins with law enforcement and the intelligence community.
“What’s pretty clear to me is that Donald Trump has taken a personal interest in candidates for national security and federal law enforcement, I think a lot of that has to do with his perceived grievances and his interest in putting faithful to these positions,” he said. “What I’ve said repeatedly is of concern to our national security. When you talk about these positions, they should be bipartisan. They should be nonpartisan and above politics, because that’s what our national security requires.”
Turner’s ouster came as members on both sides of the aisle said they felt the Intelligence Committee had finally reached a good place. They point out that it has moved on from the difficult years of Trump’s impeachment and the feud between former Speakers Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who used the panel as a forum to fight for research on Russia. influence on Trump’s 2016 campaign, to return to the most bipartisan manner the committee had seen in years.
McCarthy had appointed Turner as part of an effort to turn over a new leaf, and he has had a good relationship with ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) as well as members further down the dais.
With Turner out, panel members are concerned about the committee’s next chapter.
“I think Mike Turner tried to work bipartisanly for the best interest of the country, and he was a change from Devin Nunes, and so I’m worried about what’s to come,” Castro said before Johnson announced Crawford. like the new chair.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), another member of the committee, said he was concerned that Turner “was being punished for practicing bipartisanship.”
“One, Donald Trump seems to have some kind of veto power over the appointment of members of Congress to various committees, which is disturbing in itself. And second, he obviously had a problem with Mike trying to bring more bipartisanship on the committee. And there is nothing more urgent than having more bipartisanship in Congress, and certainly on national security issues,” he said.
For Democrats, Turner’s removal is just the latest in a series of troubling national security moves by the MAGA wing, especially since Trump has vowed to go after the “deep state.”
Krishnamoorthi pointed to Trump’s nominations of Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Kash Patel as FBI director. And Johnson’s appointment to the intelligence panel of Reps. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Trump’s former White House physician, and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), whose cell phone was seized by the FBI in 2022, raised eyebrows. both sides
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) touted Turner’s “shocking” track record as head of the Intelligence Committee, calling Johnson’s decision “shameful.”
“Mike Turner has vigorously promoted the security of the American people and the Free World and his unjustified ouster will likely be applauded by our adversaries in Russia and China,” he added.
There may have been other factors that contributed to Turner’s dismissal. He had upset some with a cryptic announcement about an urgent national security member, leading to the declassification of Russia’s nuclear ambitions in space, a move that one GOP lawmaker said Johnson’s office saw as a mess they had to clean up.
Another element fueling conflict among the GOP is the battle over how to handle reform of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial law that allows the government to spy on foreigners when they are abroad
It has been a target of MAGA-aligned members and privacy hawks who see it as a backdoor to collect information on Americans and want to add an enforcement provision to the law.
From his perch, Turner led the charge to renew FISA 702 without amending the warrant, a battle he narrowly won last April. Some say the victory fueled hard-line conservative anger toward the now-former president.
“(House Freedom Caucus) seems to care about one thing and one thing only, which is FISA,” Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw also said a Turner deputy was recently barred from going to the National Security Council as part of the fallout. But he said complaints about FISA 702 will likely hit a brick wall with many other new candidates supporting the provision.
“If there are people trying to take away some of these kinds of rational national defenses, it’s not going to work. We’re going to win, and all you’re doing is creating bad blood in the process,” Crenshaw said.
Crawford has also been a supporter of FISA 702, but in a statement Thursday, he echoed the kinds of concerns Freedom Caucus members have about the law. It’s up to him to guide the law through its next reauthorization before it expires in 2026.
“Without aggressive oversight and vigorous protection of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, the IC is prone to yielding to the mission’s mission and circumventing American laws,” Crawford said. “In all of our work, I am committed to preserving the constitutional rights of Americans even as we work to support the IC in doing everything necessary to gather indispensable information from our foreign adversaries.”
For those still on the committee, questions remain about their work dynamics going forward.
“The commission can adapt. I mean, we’re… we all work well together. But it’s definitely going to be a break with Turner, because Turner did a lot of good things and refocused the committee the way it should be,” said a GOP committee member who requested anonymity.
But Democrats said they would be vigilant in fighting any effort by Trump to change the committee.
“I will do everything in my power to avoid being drawn into politics or Donald Trump’s loyalty tests,” Crow said.
