I have to hand it to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Ca) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). I’ve never seen anyone else whine so much about getting about being booted off committees. It hasn’t even happened yet with Omar and may not because some Republicans are balking. I wrote about the presser the three held last week. But the three of them went on CNN on Sunday with Dana Bash, and Bash asked each of them about the reasons that McCarthy has stated for kicking them off.

My colleague Sister Toldjahtakes on Schiff’s justifications, where he even tries to double down on one of his biggest lies about Russia collusion.

But after all this time, Swalwell and Omar’s excuses are still pretty bad.

Bash asked a good question, “But the bottom line question is this. Did you put yourself in a vulnerable position in any way, so that this alleged Chinese spy could have benefited or even learned American secrets?”

Democrat Eric Swalwell says he did not compromise national security through his past relationship with a Chinese spy. pic.twitter.com/CvTVzsdtbi

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 29, 2023

Swalwell said, “Take the FBI’s word for it. They never talk about ongoing investigations. And former Chairman Schiff knows this, as a member of the Gang of Eight. Three different times, they came out and said two things. All I did was help them and, also, I was never under any suspicion of wrongdoing.”

The FBI might not have seen criminal wrongdoing, but there are a whole lot of reasons that might not rise to that level to keep him off. But he says they never talk about ongoing investigations. Yet they briefed McCarthy about concerns, that’s what McCarthy is saying.

Adam Schiff lied.
– about Russian collusion
– about Hunter Biden's laptop
– about knowing a whistleblower

Eric Swalwell had a relationship with a Chinese spy.

They are disqualified from serving on the House Intelligence Committee. pic.twitter.com/yJ8S73QI7O

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 26, 2023

He had a relationship with an accused Chinese spy, which in and of itself is a big problem even without any wrongdoing and he doesn’t seem to understand that. Sorry, but being taken in by a spy is a problem, we have no idea what he said to her and he may not even know if he said anything problematic. He could never get a security clearance. Why would you put him on the Intelligence Committee? He doesn’t have a right to be on the Committee. The Committee has access to some of the most important secret information, why would you put anyone there who had been compromised in any way?

Omar’s justifications were even worse. She claimed that she wasn’t aware that saying Israel had “hypnotized” the world was an anti-Semtic trope. She also claimed that she “wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money.”

Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar says she was "not aware that the word 'hypnotized' was a trope" and "wasn't aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money." pic.twitter.com/MgmdBOvPCN

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 29, 2023

So she’s trying to defend herself by pleading ignorance or she’s lying. Either one should disqualify her from being on the Foreign Affairs Committee. She thinks people are so stupid that they would buy this defense? Sorry, but no one is going for it. I’m not even sure that Schiff was buying it, check the wide shot. Look at his eyes and the blinking as she says it, although he tried not to react to it and later tried to call it a “pretext” by McCarthy. His eyes betray him when she said it, though. But even if we accept her justifications, she’s too ignorant then to be on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

On top of it all, Swalwell claimed that these “smears inspire violence,” claiming that they had people yelling at them in emails or at airports. “You have to condemn the violence and stop spreading smears,” Swalwell whined. “Otherwise, you have put a target on all of our backs, the backs of our families. And there’s real-life consequences, as we have just seen, sadly, with Speaker Pelosi’s husband and the video that’s come to light of it.”

So no one should ever criticize any Democrats or hold them accountable for their bad actions because someone might yell at them? And that’s “violence”? Then he tries to use the Pelosi attack? Can we talk about the attack on Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and the GOP baseball practice shooting that almost killed Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) then? What about all the false attacks by Democrats on Republicans? This defense from Swalwell is nonsensical.

The defenses by Swalwell and Omar confirm why they should be kicked off the committees. They just keep reinforcing it with their behavior. The Republicans need to hold together when it comes to Omar. We’ve seen some folks like Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) come up with arguments like not playing tit for tat, or even talking about the 1st Amendment. You don’t have a 1st Amendment right to be on a committee, you’re supposed to be picking the best people for those committees. Mace thinks Omar is anti-Semitic. If you think she’s anti-Semitic why would you ever put her on the Foreign Affairs Committee? Now, add Omar’s ignorance/lie that she was “unaware.” The Republicans who are balking need to hear that and have some sense.