Censure of Adam Schiff blocked by House

The House on Wednesday effectively killed a resolution to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), voting for a Democratic-led motion to table the measure.

The chamber voted 225-196-7 to table the resolution. Twenty Republicans voted with Democrats to table the measure, while seven lawmakers — five Democrats, two Republicans — voted present.

“I think it says that Trump and his MAGA supporters view me as a threat,” Schiff said shortly after the resolution was tabled. “There’s a reason they signaled me out — they think I was effective in holding them accountable. And they won’t stop me.”

“And I think frankly this [is] deeply counterproductive to that goal but that’s their aim, to go after anybody that stands up to them, to try to make an example out of them. But it’s not gonna deter me for a moment,” he added.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced the censure measure in May but brought it to the floor as a privileged resolution on Tuesday, forcing the House to take action on the legislation. Democratic leadership motioned to table the measure, which requires a simple majority vote.

The effort by House Republicans to censure Schiff is the latest iteration of the conference’s longtime crusade against the California Democrat, who became a bogeyman to the right after spearheading efforts against former President Trump while he was in the White House.

A resolution to censure Rep. Adam Schiff was blocked by the House after twenty Republicans voted with Democrats to table the measure. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Schiff, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, led the first impeachment inquiry into Trump, which ended with the House impeaching him for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Schiff was also at the forefront of Democratic accusations that Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In January, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blocked Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from serving on the Intelligence panel, following through on a promise he made before securing the Speaker’s gavel. He said the decision was made “in order to maintain a standard worthy of this committee’s responsibilities.”

And in May, Luna filed a resolution to expel Schiff, who is running for Senate, from the House.

As Schiff was speaking to reporters in the Capitol following the vote, Luna walked by and announced that she is planning to file another resolution to censure the California Democrat next week.

“I’ll be filing to censure you next week,” she said. “And we’ll get the votes for that.”

Asked about the interaction, Schiff said “this is what it takes to ratify Donald Trump.”

Luna’s censure resolution, which spans four pages, calls for censuring and condemning Schiff “for conduct that misleads the American people in a way that is not befitting an elected Member of the House of Representatives.” It would also direct the Ethics Committee to conduct an investigation into Schiff’s “lies, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information.”

More Adam Schiff coverage from The Hill

Luna, a staunch Trump ally, brought the measure to the floor as a privileged resolution the same day the former president pleaded not guilty to 37 counts brought against him by the Department of Justice as part of the investigation into his handling of classified documents. Prosecutors allege that Trump willfully retained classified records and then obstructed efforts by authorities to collect them.

In a letter to Democratic colleagues on Tuesday, Schiff argued that Luna was forcing a vote on the censure resolution — which he called “false and defamatory” — to distract from Trump’s legal woes. He said it would discipline him for his work “holding Donald Trump accountable.”

“This partisan resolution to censure and fine me $16 million is only the latest attempt to gratify the former President’s MAGA allies, and distract from Donald Trump’s legal troubles by retaliating against me for my role in exposing his abuses of power, and leading the first impeachment against him,” he wrote.

“The intent of this resolution goes far beyond me and my role leading investigations of Donald Trump, and his first impeachment — an effort I would undertake again, and in a heartbeat, if it were necessary,” he later added. “This resolution plainly demonstrates the lengths our GOP colleagues will go to protect Donald Trump’s infinite lies – lies that incited a violent attack on this very building.”

Schiff also asserted that the censure resolution was “a clear attack on our constitutional system of checks and balances.”

“Once again, our GOP colleagues are using the leverage and resources of the House majority to rewrite history and promulgate far-right conspiracy theories — all to protect and serve Donald Trump,” he wrote.

In comments following the vote, Schiff said spending time on the floor to vote on the censure resolution was an abuse of the chamber’s resources, and argued that it was a reflection of the lack of control McCarthy has over the chamber.

“But to use the House floor time this way is such an abuse of the resources of the House,” Schiff said, “and it shows how little control McCarthy has over the place that this even came to the floor.”

The resolution, which has 10 GOP cosponsors, zeroes in on Schiff’s previous comments about collusion between Trump and Russia. It cites the report from special counsel John Durham, released last month, that offered a scathing assessment of how the FBI launched and conducted an investigation into Trump’s ties to Moscow, concluding that authorities did not have sufficient information to begin the case.

It argues that Schiff “abused” the trust he was afforded as chair and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee.

“By repeatedly telling these falsehoods, Representative Shiff purposely deceived his Committee, Congress, and the American people,” the resolution reads.

The measure also includes a non-binding “whereas” clause that says if the Ethics Committee finds that Schiff “lied, made misrepresentations, and abused sensitive information” that he should be fined $16 million. Luna said that dollar figure is half the amount of money that American taxpayers paid to fund the investigation into potential collusion between Trump and Russia.

The Justice Department in August 2019 said the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller cost $32 million.

Luna’s call for financial action was a point of concern for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who signaled ahead of the vote that he would support a motion to table the resolution. He argued that the fine would violate the Constitution.

“Adam Schiff acted unethically but if a resolution to fine him $16 million comes to the floor I will vote to table it. (vote against it)” Massie wrote on Twitter.

“The Constitution says the House may make its own rules but we can’t violate other (later) provisions of the Constitution. A $16 million fine is a violation of the 27th and 8th amendments,” he wrote in a subsequent tweet.

Updated at 6:21 p.m.