WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday removed the Republican chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, who was an outspoken supporter of aid to Ukraine and harbored other positions that put him at odds with President-elect Donald Trump.
Johnson told reporters late Wednesday that Representative Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, would no longer lead the committee, which oversees the nation's intelligence agencies and has enormous influence over law enforcement and foreign policy. During Trump's first term, the commission became a hotbed of partisanship as its powers were used to assist the then-president. Johnson also gave two Trump allies a coveted spot on the panel last year.
Johnson said he made the decision to remove Turner because the “intelligence community and everything associated with it (the committee) needs a fresh start.”
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The Republican chairman, who has aligned himself closely with Trump, said he would soon announce the committee's new chairman.
Johnson then praised Turner and said he would play an important role in working with NATO. But Turner's foreign policy positions had clashed with the new president, who will storm the White House next week with a vision of overhauling the federal government's intelligence and law enforcement capabilities. Trump has picked fierce loyalists to lead agencies with enormous surveillance power.
In a statement, Turner said: “Under my leadership, we have restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to the core of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious consultation.”
Turner also pushed back last year on Trump's false claims that Haitian migrants in his Ohio district ate pets.
Punchbowl News first reported that Turner had been removed as chair.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jim Himes, in a statement called Turner “a serious, security-oriented lawmaker who, at his core, is committed to the national security of the United States and to the thoughtful oversight of the intelligence community.”
Himes added: “Chairman Turner's resignation makes our nation less safe and is a terrible omen for things to come.”
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Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed.
