Source: CNN
House Speaker Mike Johnson has selected Republican Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas to be the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee after Rep. Mike Turner was ousted from the role Wednesday, Johnson announced in a statement Thursday.
“Rick Crawford will provide principled leadership as its chairman. He has earned the respect of his colleagues through his years of faithful service on the committee and his steady approach to the challenges facing our country,” Johnson said in a statement.
Crawford is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and is the most senior member of the committee after Turner.
He also voted against additional aid for Ukraine last April, something that Turner has been a fierce advocate of.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, emphasized that Turner’s ouster is a blow to bipartisan oversight. Himes lamented to CNN, “We’ve lost a huge amount of national security knowledge and credibility,” saying Turner “knew more about the national security of the United States than any 20 members of Congress wandering these halls.”
Himes said he has spoken to Turner since he was ousted and that the Ohio Republican plans to “spend more time on his beloved NATO.”
Turner had voted in support of aid to Ukraine and to certify the 2020 election, breaking with several of President-elect Donald Trump Trump’s closest House allies.
Asked by CNN if Turner told him anything about possible Trump’s involvement in the decision, Himes declined to share more about their private conversation, but said, “There’s this whole thing – was it Mar-a-Lago or was it the Republican conference … I don’t know.”
The speaker denied Wednesday that Trump had urged him to remove Turner as the panel’s chair.
“This is not a President Trump decision. This is a House decision, and this is no slight whatsoever to our outgoing chairman. He did a great job,” Johnson said. “The intelligence community and everything related to (the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence), it needs a fresh start. And that’s what this is about. Nothing else.”
A source familiar with Johnson’s thinking told CNN that the speaker wanted to bring in his own chairman of the committee, just as then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy did in initially naming Turner to the role. Turner was not told in the meeting that it was Trump’s decision to remove him, the source added.
In a statement Wednesday, Turner said he was “very proud to have served” as chairman.
“There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them,” Turner said. “Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.