Speaker Mike Johnson has tapped “America First” acolyte and CIA Subcommittee Chairman Rick Crawford as the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee after a dramatic shakeup Wednesday saw the ouster of Mike Turner.
Johnson (R-La.), 52, opted against reappointing Turner (R-Ohio), 65, to the powerful spy committee without a clear public rationale, riling up Republicans and Democrats on the panel alike and fueling suspensions that President-elect Donald Trump was behind the move.
“Our intelligence community and its oversight must maintain the highest levels of trust. The House Intel Committee will play a pivotal role in this work in the new Congress, and Rick Crawford will provide principled leadership as its chairman,” Johnson said in a statement Thursday.
“Outgoing Chairman Mike Turner deserves our gratitude for his leadership and critical work in the 118th Congress. He led the committee well during a very challenging period of our nation’s history.”
Turner had been the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee since 2022 after his predecessor, former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) joined Trump’s Truth Social company as its CEO. Trump, 78, later tapped the 51-year-old close ally to helm the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Due to term limits on the committee, which apply to rank-and-file members but not the chair, Turner is now off the Intelligence Committee altogether.
Turner, who hails from the same state as Vice President-elect JD Vance, told CBS News that Johnson gave him the boot due to “concerns from Mar-a-Lago.” Johnson later downplayed any Trump involvement.
“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,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday evening.
After accepting the chairmanship, Crawford (R-Ark.), 58, echoed many of Trump’s gripes about the intelligence community.
“I have witnessed firsthand that abuse within our nation’s security apparatus has eroded trust in our institutions and compromised America’s ability to gather intelligence,” Crawford declared in a statement.
“As Chairman, I will aggressively uphold our mandate to provide credible and robust oversight of the Intelligence Community’s funding and activities. Without aggressive oversight and vigorous protection of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, the IC is prone to give in to mission creep and skirt US laws.”
Both Turner and Crawford backed the controversial reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 during the last Congress. Section 702 permits the government to conduct warrantless surveillance of non-US citizens outside the US.
Section 702 is controversial within MAGA world and some of Johnson’s critics, such as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), cited it as part of his motivation for opposing his speakership bid earlier this year.
Congress is set to grapple with the renewal of Section 702 later this year.
Turner, who caused a stir early last year by warning of Russia’s nuclear space capabilities, has also long been a staunch backer of Ukraine. Last year, he backed a $60.8 billion bill to replenish aid to the war-torn ally.
Crawford opposed that bill saying he couldn’t back it “in good faith” while “Americans are struggling with rising costs at home.”
On another key committee that deals with global politics, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who voted against Ukraine aid, has taken the reins from Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who was term-limited and didn’t pursue a waiver to stay on at the helm.
Democrats erupted in fury at the ouster of Turner at the helm of the House Intelligence Committee.
“Mike Turner is a serious, security-focused lawmaker,” Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said in a statement. “The removal of Chairman Turner makes our nation less secure and is a terrible portent for what’s to come.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) denounced the move and hailed Turner as a “thoughtful and highly-principled leader, whose work as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee has been extremely impactful.”
“Mike Turner has robustly promoted the safety of the American people and the Free World and his unjustified ouster is likely being applauded by our adversaries in Russia and China. Shameful.”
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