Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will not make Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) chair of the House Intelligence Committee in the 119th Congress, a source familiar with the decision confirmed to The Hill.
Turner had been the top Republican on the committee, a position selected by the Speaker, since the start of 2022, chosen by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for the role.
Because he will no longer be chair, Turner is set to no longer be on the committee at all. House rules limit membership on the panel to no more than four Congresses, or eight years, in a period of six successive Congresses — a rule that does not apply to the chair. Turner joined the Intelligence Committee in 2015.
Punchbowl News first reported Turner’s ouster.
Johnson’s decision to remove Turner comes as somewhat of a surprise. Though the Louisianan had not officially named a chair for the Intelligence panel for this Congress, Turner attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with President-elect Trump over the weekend with all the other House GOP standing committee chairs.
“It’s a new Congress, we just need fresh horses in some of these places, but I’m a Mike Turner fan, he’s done a great job, he’s performed valiantly in a difficult time under difficult circumstances. So I have nothing but positive things to say about my friend and colleague,” Johnson told reporters as he left the Capitol.
Johnson said he would announce a new chair on Thursday.
A source familiar with Turner’s office speculated his removal had to do with a cryptic warning he issued about a “serious national security threat” in early 2024, setting off a national panic — and then backlash.
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby later confirmed the threat pertained to a Russian anti-satellite capability but said it is not an “active capability.”
Turner’s statement drew backlash from other Republicans, some of whom accused the chair of having ulterior motives behind releasing the statement.
It was a remarkable move, with the House Intelligence chair single-handedly forcing President Biden to declassify information he wasn’t otherwise planning to share with the public.
Ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said at the time that Turner had overstepped, adding “it’s something that the Congress the administration does need to address in the medium to long run.”
Turner has also been a strong Republican supporter of aid to Ukraine, and supported an extension of surveillance powers known Section 702 in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — both of which have drawn the ire of Trump-allied, America First conservatives.
CBS News’s Margaret Brennan reported Turner told her Johnson fired him after citing “concerns from Mar-a-Lago.”
Asked if Trump had played a role in his decision, Johnson said, “This is not a President Trump decision, this is a House decision and this is no slight whatsoever to our outgoing chairman, he did a great job, but we just, the Intelligence Community and everything related to HPSCI is, it needs a fresh start and that’s what this is about, nothing else.”
Himes told reporters that Turner’s removal “sends a shiver down my spine” and that he is “enormously concerned,” CNN reported.
It is unclear whom Johnson will select to replace Turner. There are a number of vacancies and upcoming vacancies on the Republican side of the committee, due to retirements and members such as Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Mike Waltz (R–Fla.) being selected for Trump administration positions.
Johnson last year appointed Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) to the committee, while the remaining Republicans on the panel are holdovers from before he became Speaker.
In a statement, Turner said he was “proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman. There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them.”
“Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations,” he added.
Mychael Schnell and Rebecca Beitsch contributed. Updated at 7:50 p.m.
