By Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a Republican effort to censure Representative Adam Schiff, a rare move meant to punish the Democrat for his leading role in the investigation into Donald Trump’s conduct when he was president.
The sponsor of the measure, far-right Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna, argued that a congressional investigation led by Schiff into potential links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government was politically motivated and that the representative had falsely led the Americans to believe that there was collusion between the two entities.
In practice, the measure, which passed 213-209 along party lines, will result in an investigation of Schiff by the ethics committee. Shortly after the vote, the Democrats, who fiercely and unanimously defended their colleague, shouted “Shame!” to the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who presided over the proceedings.
Schiff has been a frequent Republican target since 2019, when he led the investigation that led to Trump’s impeachment for his alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to help him win re-election. Trump remained in office because the Senate refused to convict him.
Trump was impeached for a second time by the House for his actions that led to the deadly January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol. Again, the Senate voted against the conviction.
The House defeated a separate no-confidence effort against Schiff last week, when 20 Republicans joined 205 Democrats in opposition. The earlier censorship effort was accompanied by a $16 million fine, which has since been waived. It was unclear how this fine would have been applied and even Republicans had doubts about its constitutionality.
Censures in the House are historically rare.
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar was censored in 2021 after posting a cartoon video that showed him killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the first time censorship had been used in a decade.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Christopher Cushing)