dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Republican move allows House Intel to resume work

By MARTIN MATISHAK

01/30/2019 03:25 PM EST

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/01/30/john-ratcliffe-house-intelligence-1130751

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) will join the House Intelligence Committee as the panel's lone Republican addition.

Ratcliffe’s appointment was announced on the House floor Wednesday, along with the other GOP members of the committee. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had been expected to make the announcement Wednesday or Thursday, according to sources familiar with the decision.

The announcement comes two weeks after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named four new Democrats to the high-profile committee, which hasn't been able to formally meet since the Republican leadership hadn't announced its roster.

Now that the Republican slate is set, the full committee with 13 Democrats and nine Republicans can convene and will likely do so as soon as next week. One of its first priorities may be restarting its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which new Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has vowed to reopen.

The lack of action on picking the full slate of panel members had led some observers to question if Republicans were attempting to hamstring the committee, especially because the GOP shuttered its Russia probe in the last Congress amid partisan acrimony. At that time, it concluded there was no collusion between the Trump. However, other factors caused the delay. Leadership had to determine if Reps. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Mike Conaway (R-Texas), who were term-limited off the committee, could receive a waiver to remain.

Conaway, who had more seniority than King and led the Russia investigation after then-Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) temporarily stepped aside from the inquiry, is expected to receive a waiver. King is not.

There is also a chamber rule that each side of the aisle must have at least one member who also serves on the House Judiciary Committee, which Ratcliffe (R-Texas) does, replacing former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who, along with three other panel Republicans, retired from Congress this year.

Appearing on NBC's “Meet the Press" on Sunday, McCarthy dismissed the idea he was slow-rolling the committee's work and said he would name members this week.

"The reason why committees weren't already reported, the Democrats were not organized. They waited until after the speaker race, which Republicans would never do, to give us the ratios," he said, later adding that he "met with every single individual that I'm going to appoint" last Friday.

Elected in 2014, Ratcliffe was immediately tapped to chair the House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee, which he did until the Democrat-controlled Congress convened.

He was also picked to serve as a member of a joint task force of the Judiciary and Oversight committees to investigate if federal authorities abused surveillance powers during the 2016 presidential election.

Prior to his election, former President George W. Bush in 2004 named Ratcliffe the chief of anti-terrorism and national security for the Eastern District of Texas. He was appointed U.S. attorney for the same district in 2007. It's that investigate background that led McCarthy to pick him for the panel's open slot.

This Congress marks the first time McCarthy is hand-picking members to serve on Intelligence. McCarthy personally informed at least 70 lawmakers who sought a spot on the panel but didn't get a seat, further delaying the Ratcliffe announcement.

Panel Republicans met with Ratcliffe earlier Wednesday in McCarthy's office as a kind of informal welcome to the committee session, sources said.

The panel held its first briefing with intelligence community officials Wednesday, according to a committee source. The one named Republican member, Nunes, was invited but did not attend, the source told POLITICO.

Schiff previously pledged to reopen the panel's investigation into Russia's election interference, with a focus on potential ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

Following last week's arrest of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone on charges of lying to Congress, Schiff said the "first order of business for the committee will be to release all remaining transcripts to the Special Counsel's Office, and we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead."

He has also said the panel will look into allegations of money laundering between the Trump Organization and Russia and has threatened to subpoena the company’s bank records.