The 20 House Republicans who opposed a censure of Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a week ago supported it on Wednesday — to a member.
On a down-the-line party vote (218-208), the House on Wednesday afternoon rejected a motion to table the resolution and then voted, also on party lines (213-209), to refer the measure to the House Ethics Committee.
Republicans sought to censure Schiff, former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, for what they feel was his misleading of the public while overseeing a House Intelligence Committee investigation of allegations of Russian ties to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
One of the 20 Republicans who opposed the initial censure motion, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., told Newsmax: "I'm not sure we've done anything like this, and I'm not sure it was constitutional."
House Rules Committee Chair Cole, who spoke to Newsmax hours before the votes on the revised measure on Wednesday, was referring to the $16 million fine that censure author and freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., had attached to her censure motion.
"It was defective," Cole said of the unprecedented fine. "She changed it. I'll probably support it this time [he did]. I don't have any problem with censuring Adam Schiff. I voted to do it in 2019 [in a Democrat-controlled House]. This is the first time this thing got to the floor. But to Ms. Luna's credit, she changed it; and she's answered most of my questions."
Cole also noted the other 19 Republicans who opposed the initial resolution: "Tom Massie [of Kentucky], whom I think of as a libertarian; Kelly Armstrong [of North Dakota], a very smart criminal defense attorney; Warren Davidson [of Ohio], a Freedom Caucus guy; and pretty traditional conservatives like Steve Womack [of Arkansas]; Kay Granger [of Texas]; Tom McClintock [of California]; and myself.
"I think I'm in pretty good company. Once their concern was answered, they were for it."
Cole also addressed Trump's denunciation of the 20 as "RINOs" (Republicans in name only) for opposing Luna's initial censure motion.
"Look, I have a lot of respect for the former president," he said. "But I don't think he read the resolution. He was just interested in settling the score with Schiff. That's fine. But I'm not interested in setting a precedent that will haunt the institution for all time."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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