House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) won the gavel to lead the 119th Congress with the support of President-elect Donald Trump behind his candidacy. But Johnson says emphatically that Trump did not influence the Speaker’s controversial decision to oust Republican Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) from his post as head of the House Intelligence Committee.
Johnson asks that his “unilateral decision by the Speaker” to replace Turner with Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) not be seen as a move dictated by Trump. (Crawford was the CIA Subcommittee chair: the FBI and CIA, two agencies Trump has vowed to significantly disrupt.)
The move puts Johnson, whose GOP House majority is razor thin, in trouble even according to reporting by Fox News, which revealed Turner’s anger at being moved like a pawn in Trump’s suspected chess game. Fox says it appears that Johnson’s machinations, unilateral or not, will cost him Turner’s support.
Fox quotes a Turner supporter saying the ousted intelligence chair privately said he is “never going to vote for another [expletive] thing around here again.”
Quoting Fox’s reporting on Turner’s alleged threat to withhold his votes, the X account called Republicans Against Trump wrote on Friday: “Turner has missed all House votes in the last 48 hours.”
WOW. Allies of GOP Rep. Mike Turner, who was removed by Mike Johnson as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News that Turner is furious and he’s “never going to vote for another blanking thing around here again.”
Turner has missed all House votes in the last 48… pic.twitter.com/Glz92RqDeW
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 17, 2025
Publicly, Turner was gracious, commending his committee colleagues and the sanctity of their mission on his way out: “There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them…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.”
Johnson insisted: “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, but we just, the Intelligence Community and everything related to HPSCI is, it needs a fresh start and that’s what this is about, nothing else.”
But even with Turner’s purported revolt, his dismissal caused Democrats like Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee Jim Himes (D-CT) to express a sinking feeling that Trump’s threats against vulnerable Republican lawmakers would erode the legislative body’s role and power.
[This feeling is exacerbated as Trump pal Elon Musk promises to finance primary challengers for any Republican who defies Trump’s wishes.]
Himes: Thid place used to be considered a check and a balance on the power of the president. That’s why we exist. And the message just went out that if you check this president, you’re fired. pic.twitter.com/Sj4fFj4TGy
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 17, 2025