'He was a fearless leader': Eric Swalwell defends Adam Schiff, says they were kicked off Intel Committee for holding Trump accountable

After newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy rejected the nominations of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to the House Intelligence Committee, the pair made an appearance on MSNBC to explain why they felt they were rejected from receiving the often classified briefings.

Speaking to MSNBC's Joy Reid, Rep. Swalwell pointed to a steadfast "resolve" held by himself and Schiff as the main motivation of the House speaker for rejecting their nominations.

"Adam [Schiff] never flinched; he was a fearless leader throughout that impeachment, and that's why they're targeting him," Swalwell explained.

"It's the same with me and Ms. [Ilhan] Omar, it's the fact that we never flinched, and we were fearless in our resolve to hold Donald Trump accountable," Swalwell added.

The representative then stated that Speaker McCarthy acted out of "political vengeance":

"It's not about me... it's about who is now given access to top secret information and what it means to use political vengeance to exact revenge on your political opponents."

Rep. Schiff took to Twitter in recent days calling McCarthy's move "petty, political payback for investigating Donald Trump," but also the California representative created a TikTok account, posting a video to talk about "troubling news."

"Kevin McCarthy removed me from the House Intelligence Committee, all for doing my job, for holding Trump accountable and standing up to the extreme MAGA Republicans," Schiff said on the Chinese app.

"This is not the end of my fight for our democracy," he added before asking for donations from viewers.

Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota also made statements in a press conference about her removal from the committee, saying that historically, politicians have only been removed for "the most egregious wrongdoings."

Listing examples, Omar mentioned "bribery, sexual misconduct, [encouraging] violence, or other grave charges."

Omar also recited her personal experiences as evidence as to why she is grateful for being on different committees, saying "as a child I who survived war, lived in a refugee camp, I would have never imagined that I would one day have the opportunity to serve on a subcommittee on Africa global health and global human rights."

The representative from Minnesota then stated that her removal is a threat to the nation's security: "It's not only a political stunt," Omar said of McCarthy's decision, "but also a blow to the integrity of our democratic institution and threat to our national security."

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