Partially because Donald Trump wanted him to, Mike Johnson named two controversial members to the committee — Reps. Scott Perry (Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (Tex.) — sparking concerns about politicizing a crucial panel.
By Marianna Sotomayor, Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell, The Washington PostSpeaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., conducts a news conference at the Republican National Committee after a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the House Republican Conference on Thursday, June 13, 2024.
The appointment of Rep. Ronny Jackson to Intelligence also drew unease from some House Republicans, but not as much as Perry, because he is not a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus and does not often buck GOP leadership. Johnson briefly explained his decision, telling The Washington Post that it is “important to have a broad spectrum of perspectives on that committee” and that he believes both members are “going to do a good job.”The appointments came before Trump rallied House Republicans on Capitol Hill last week to unite lawmakers behind a political and policy message aimed at establishing a GOP lock on Washington in the November elections.
The Intelligence Committee regularly receives highly classified briefings on sensitive national security matters affecting the country. Johnson has said his perspective changed on sending more aid to Ukraine after receiving the highest level of intelligence briefings as speaker, and he has often encouraged skeptical Republicans to do the same. Turner and Himes urged Johnson to pass more aid to Ukraine in April after a classified committee briefing on the war.
Not even Turner knew of Johnson’s decision before the news broke in the media. Republicans on the Intelligence Committee took an extra step, requesting a sit-down meeting with Johnson to voice concerns over how Jackson and Perry could harm efforts to make the committee less partisan. Tensions appear to have cooled since the meeting, according to multiple people in attendance, with Republicans on the committee hoping the seriousness of the job will change new members’ perspectives.
Perry, a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus and a chief Trump loyalist, has drawn the most fire from colleagues for his appointment. He waslast year refused to support McCarthy for speaker in an effort to extract concessions from him. Some of those demands included putting more hard-liners on Intelligence and removing Turner as chair, which
“I’m looking forward to seeing what their definition of real oversight looks like compared to what we’ve been doing,” one of those lawmakers said.
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