"People are angry": Mike Johnson faces bipartisan uproar over Intelligence Committee picks

15/06/2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has roiled lawmakers in both parties by appointing a pair of hardline conservatives to the House Intelligence Committee.

Why it matters: Committee members fear the presence of Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) threatens to disrupt a hard-fought bipartisan consensus forged in the aftermath of the Trump era.

Some are also concerned about the highly sensitive information to which committee members are often exposed.

Driving the news: Johnson tapped Perry and Jackson to replace former Reps. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), both of whom resigned midway through their terms.

Both picks were bound to be inflammatory: Perry's phone was seized by the FBI as part of its Jan. 6 probe, while Jackson has faced allegations of drinking on duty and harassing staff when he was the White House physician.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), a Democratic member of the panel, sent Johnson a letter earlier this week urging him to reverse the appointments.

What we're hearing: One House Democrat said panel members were "shocked at first, and [now] some people are angry," calling the appointments "reckless."

"Everybody is concerned," the lawmaker added.
One Republican member said of Perry, who has been a thorn in the side of GOP leadership: "Part of the problem is it is rewarding bad behavior."
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said Johnson should "keep a close eye and make sure that people are respecting the seriousness of the committee."

Zoom in: Perry is seen by Republicans as the real concern, with some Democrats lumping the two together and others drawing a distinction.

Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) said he will give Jackson "the benefit of the doubt, because I know him very well," but has "some concerns" about Perry.

The other side: "My 44 years of national security experience and service to our Nation speaks for itself," Perry said in a statement to Axios.

Spokespeople for Johnson and Jackson did not provide comment.

Between the lines: The committee is charged with oversight of the intelligence community, and thus has access to highly classified information often not provided to other rank-and-file members of Congress.

It is also a select committee, allowing Johnson to make the appointments unilaterally without sign-off from the GOP's steering committee.
Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) was not looped in on the picks, according to Punchbowl News, nor was Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a source familiar with the matter told Axios.

Zoom out: Turner and Himes have worked to salvage the Intelligence Committee's longstanding reputation as a haven from Congress' usual divisiveness.

That distinction was blurred after Trump-era scandals drew the committee into repeated and public partisan warfare.
"The chairman and I have worked really, really hard to rebuild the committee into something non-partisan, and so this was obviously a concerning development," Himes told Axios.

The latest: A group of Republican members of the Intelligence Committee met with Johnson in his office on Wednesday evening to voice their concerns.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) told Axios on Friday that he has "said what I needed to say on that. We've all had it out and kind of had a good talk."
Crenshaw said his "main concern" is maintaining "trust" between the committee's members and the intelligence agencies.

The intrigue: Some Democrats are stopping short of joining Houlahan's call for Johnson to pull Perry and Jackson off the committee.

Himes said he is an "optimist" and has "an obligation to assume we can keep the committee on an even keel, so I'm going to give these guys a chance."
"I welcome them onto the committee," said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.). "The Intelligence Committee, in my experience, has been one of the most bipartisan ... and I think we want to maintain that approach."

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