The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump.
The vote comes just one week after lawmakers moved to kill to table a similar Republican-backed resolution to condemn the California Democrat.
The final vote was 213-209, along party lines, with six Republicans voting “present.” Democratic lawmakers shouted out “Shame!” and “Disgrace!” as their colleague became the 25th member of the House to be censured in U.S. history. They also chanted “Adam! Adam!” as he faced his censure.
The censure resolution, introduced by Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a staunch Trump ally, calls for a House Ethics Committee probe into Schiff.
The initial measure, also introduced by Luna, sought to condemn Schiff and fine him $16 million over his accusations that the former president had ties to Russia ahead of the 2016 election. Luna says $16 million is half the cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
After consulting with members of her party, Luna removed the $16 million fine provision from her new censure measure. Republican lawmakers in the majority beat back a motion to table the new censure measure Wednesday afternoon, clearing the way for final passage.
“Censure vote will be tomorrow,” Luna wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, predicting that the measure will have enough support to pass this time around.
“A majority of 20 are switching their vote to support the new resolution and some members who were out of town will be voting with us,” she wrote. “Based on our count, Adam Schiff will be investigated by ethics and censured. Thank you to my colleagues for working with us. Accountability will be RESTORED in the House of Representatives.”
Schiff was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee from 2015-2019, and the panel’s chairman from 2019 until earlier this year. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., removed Schiff from the panel earlier this year after Republicans reclaimed the House majority. Schiff also served as lead manager in Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2020 over accusations that he threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for help in his reeleciton bid.
In an impassioned speech on the House floor on Wednesday, Schiff invoked his former colleague on the House Jan. 6 committee and another outspoken critic of Trump, Liz Cheney.
“No matter how many false justifications or slanders you level against me, you but indict yourselves,” Schiff said. “As Liz Cheney said, ‘there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.'”
“This resolution attacks me for initiating an investigation into Trump campaign solicitation and acceptance of Russian help in the 2016 election even though the investigation was first led not by me, but by a Republican chairman,” Schiff said in his remarks, later adding: “In short, it would accuse me of omnipotence, the leader of some vast Deep State conspiracy, and of course, it is nonsense.”
Last week, the motion to table the initial censure measure passed the House in a 225-196 vote, with 7 lawmakers voting present. Twenty Republicans joined Democrats to table the measure. Trump condemned those GOP lawmakers who voted against the measure, writing on his Truth Social platform last week that “any Republican voting against his CENSURE, or worse, should immediately be primaried. There are plenty of great candidates out there.”
“This time Donald Trump threatened that any Republican that votes against this sham resolution will be the subject of a primary challenge,” Schiff noted in an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday. “And one thing Republicans have shown continually is they will do his bidding. So we’re back again this week, and they will probably cave to his demands.”
Schiff called the censure measure “a badge of honor,” charging that Republicans ” only go after people they think are effective, people they fear, are holding them accountable.”
“That’s what I’ve done in investigating Donald Trump, leading the first impeachment trial against him, to the first bipartisan vote to convict in U.S. history,” the California Democrat said. “I was proud to serve on the Jan. 6 committee and I’m going to continue to hold him and any of his enablers accountable.?”
Luna introduced the original censure measure the same day that Trump pleaded not guilty in a Miami courtroom to 37 felony charges related to alleged mishandling of classified documents. Schiff, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in California to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein, at the time called the censure motion a means to distract from the former president’s legal troubles.
“This has come back because Donald Trump is again their leading candidate for president and he’s been indicted,” Schiff told Spectrum News on Wednesday. “And they will do anything to protect him they will do anything to defend him, they will betray their oath of office, they will ignore the Constitution, they will seek to interfere in the prosecution, they’ll go after anyone who pushes back and I am someone pushing back.”
Schiff said that he expects such GOP-led efforts against him to continue.
“They won’t stop attacking me, because I won’t stop defending our Constitution,” he said. “But that’s what my constituents sent me here to do, and that’s what Californians want me to do. I’m going to continue to fight to protect our democracy, even as I’m fighting to bring down the cost of housing and find shelter for those who are homeless and fight the opioid crisis. I’m going to do both parts of my job, and I’m going to do them with equal vigor.”
