The House tried this a week ago and it didn’t pass because a group of Republicans balked over a requirement that Schiff would have to pay a penalty of $16 million dollars. Today, Republicans tried again and passed a revised censure without the fine.
The 213-209 party-line vote came exactly one week after a similar effort to censure Schiff, D-Calif., was rejected after 20 Republicans joined Democrats to block the resolution over objections to a provision that called for fining him $16 million.
But the author of the resolution, freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said this week she had secured support from the 20 GOP dissenters after she removed language about a fine…
“The perpetrator of this web of deceit became mainstays on cable news, waking up every morning with one goal: to lie, lie, lie to the American people that there was direct evidence of Russia collusion,” Luna said in a floor speech before the vote.
Rep. Schiff really did milk the collusion cow harder than any other elected official in 2017. He also pushed the Steele dossier and was fundamentally wrong about the Nunes memo. In retrospect there were lots of dubious claims he put forward on television which weren’t backed up by facts. Here’s a sample put together by the Washington Free Beacon.
I don’t know if that sort of footsie with the truth rises to the level of censure but I can’t say I feel any sorrow for him. Naturally, the censure turned into a circus as Democrats tried to shout it down like the House Speaker had invaded their university and ruined their safe space.
After the vote on Wednesday, members could be heard chanting as Schiff moved toward the well, where he stood as Speaker Kevin McCarthy read the adopted resolution aloud.
The heckling included shouts of “shame! shame!” while McCarthy repeatedly paused until there was quiet, at one point saying he had time to be there all night.
As the speaker read the censure resolution on the floor, the banging of his gavel could barely be heard over Democrats yelling that the move was a “disgrace” and more.
As the vote was called, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said, “It’s pathetic you’re doing this. Pathetic.”…
Schiff was surrounded by fellow Democrats in the chamber, many of whom high-fived and embraced him as he walked towards the well.
Here’s the video from C-Span.
Schiff will now face an ethics investigation looking into his statements. He spoke before the censure and offered a defense of his actions.
Finally, here’s the statement of Rep. Luna launching the censure.
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