Donald Trump has sent shockwaves through D.C. after a top House Republican charged with overseeing the CIA and FBI was dramatically replaced.
Speaker Mike Johnson stunned lawmakers Wednesday when he announced that he is replacing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner.
Turner, aged 65, led the committee as chair since January 2023. Some House Freedom Caucus members loyal to Trump accused him of having a close, favoring relationship with CIA and FBI members.
While Johnson claimed that Trump had no direct role in Turner’s knifing, sources claimed that the president-elect personally intervened.
Trump pledged to rid the government of corruption, commonly referred to as ‘draining the swamp.’ He is likely to focus on intelligence agencies, which he alleges conspired against him to prevent his White House victory in what he calls a ‘Deep State’ conspiracy.
As part of his MAGA overhaul, Trump has tapped Tulsi Gabbard to become the new director of National Intelligence and Kash Patel to lead the FBI.
Gabbard and Patel’s nominations have drawn criticism from the establishment due to their public remarks opposing the existence of a ‘Deep State.’
Rep. Mike Turner, former chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, R-Ohio, during press conference of members of Congress Delegation on February 9, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Speaker Johnson removed Turner from the intel committee on Wednesday
Donald Trump has famously rallied against longtime members of the intelligence community and commonly refers to them as the ‘Deep State’
The conservative House Freedom Caucus met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend
Patel, a former federal prosecutor who worked in Trump’s first administration, has publicly stated on numerous occasions how he wants to dismantle the ‘deep state’ and even published a book about federal corruption in 2023 titled ‘Government Gangsters.’
Gabbard has also been skeptical of the intelligence community and even displayed her defiance by visiting former Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad on her own accord in 2017 on what she deemed a ‘fact finding mission.’
They are expected to cut against the status-quo and bring in a new era of Trump-friendly sentiment to the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., now the highest-ranking Republican on Intel who is much more MAGA-aligned than Turner, will become chair.
Turner, meanwhile, is no longer on the committee at all.
Conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley slammed Turner on X following the announcement.
‘House Intel Chairman Mike Turner has voted for every Ukraine spending bill. He voted to keep Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. He initially voted against censuring Adam Schiff. He voted to raise the debt ceiling. He’s a warmongering RINO trying to send $60B to Ukraine. He is Deep State.’
‘The GOP House Intel Chair removed by Speaker Johnson yesterday — Mike Turner — is a blind loyalist to and puppet of the US Security State, CIA and NSA,’ journalist Glenn Greenwald similarly wrote.
While chairman, Turner found himself at odds with leadership and Trump at times.
The Ohio Republican was one of the loudest advocates for Congress renewing FISA, the controversial tool that helps the FBI and CIA spy on terrorists, last year despite Trump’s demands to let the surveillance tool expire.
‘Kill FISA, it was illegally used against me, and many others. They spied on my campaign!’ Trump posted on social media in April 2024.
Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard are expected to bring a Trump-friendly attitude to the intelligence community should they be confirmed by the Senate
Turner caused House Republican leadership headaches in February 2024 when he sounded the alarm on a Russian ‘national security threat’ which was reported to be nuclear weapons in space. Speaker Johnson later had to diffuse the situation
Trump famously has rallied against the spy tool FISA
The House eventually authorized a modified version of FISA after multiple contentious attempts to pass a measure to extend the use of the spy tool.
That renewal came despite reports surfacing in 2023 that FISA had been used ‘improperly’ 278,000 times to keep tabs on Americans and was also used to track January 6 defendants and Black Lives Matter activists.
FISA was notoriously misused by the intelligence community to spy on Trump’s campaign aide Carter Page during the 2016 election, later setting up claims about the Republican’s ties to Russia, which Democrats used for years to bludgeon the 45th president’s credibility.
Turner also grabbed headlines last year for warning that Russia developed a new and ‘serious national security threat,’ which immediately raised alarm bells around Capitol Hill as press peppered lawmakers with questions about the scary development.
Reports at the time surfaced indicating that the threat Turner was referencing dealt with Russia’s efforts to put a nuclear weapon into space.
At the time Turner demanded that President Joe Biden declassify the ominous information so lawmakers could discuss the ramifications.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson later had to clean up the debacle and reaffirm that ‘there’s no need for public alarm.’
‘I’m not at liberty to disclose classified information and really can’t say much of that, but we just want to assure everyone, steady hands are at the wheel, we’re working on it. There’s no need for alarm,’ Johnson said.
Turner posted a statement acknowledging the shakeup on Wednesday.
‘I’m very proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman,’ Turner wrote. ‘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. As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have been and will continue to be a strong advocate for the military and our national defense.’
