WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has informed Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, that he will no longer be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, according to a GOP leadership source and a Republican lawmaker familiar with the matter.
The lawmaker said Turner told him Wednesday that he would not be staying on as head of the critical panel that conducts oversight of the U.S. intelligence community. The House Intelligence Committee chair is also a member of the so-called "Gang of Eight" congressional leaders who receive some of the most sensitive, classified briefings from the intelligence community.
Johnson confirmed the news later Wednesday but downplayed the change as he offered praise for Turner.
"It's a new Congress. We just need fresh horses in some of these places. But I'm a Mike Turner fan," Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. "He's done a great job. He performed valiantly in a difficult time under difficult circumstances. So I have nothing but positive things to say about my friend and colleague."
"This is not a President Trump decision; this is a House decision," the speaker added, referring to speculation that politics may have led to the change. "And this is no slight whatsoever to our ... outgoing chairman."
The top post on the Intelligence Committee is one of the few positions directly chosen by the speaker of the House at the start of a new Congress. Johnson said he would make an announcement about Turner’s replacement on Thursday.
In a statement Wednesday night, Turner, a staunch NATO supporter who has aggressively pushed for U.S. aid for Ukraine, said he was "proud" of his time serving on and leading the committee. His office said Turner would only be serving on the Armed Services and Oversight and Government Reform committees in the new Congress, meaning he will no longer have a seat on the Intelligence panel.
“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," Turner said.
“As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have been and will continue to be a strong advocate for the military and our national defense," he continued. "My work to expand missions and capabilities at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base continues. Furthermore, I look forward to welcoming the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to Dayton in the coming months.”
House Republican sources said they did not know who Johnson would choose to replace Turner. Some senior Republicans on the panel are Reps. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Trent Kelly of Mississippi, and Darin LaHood of Illinois.
Last year, Johnson raised eyebrows in the intelligence community and around Capitol Hill when he appointed two Donald Trump loyalists, Reps. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, to the Intelligence Committee.
The decision to replace Turner stunned lawmakers in both parties given that Turner, a defense hawk, is well-respected on both sides of the aisle. A former mayor of Dayton, Turner belongs to the GOP's Main Street Caucus, which describes its members as "pragmatic." Other lawmakers in the caucus said they were frustrated by Johnson's decision to oust one of their own.
One member said the move erodes trust and could complicate Republicans' ability to pass Trump's 2025 agenda given the their paper-thin majority.
"A bunch of Main Street Republicans are disappointed," said the member, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. "This hurts us in the reconciliation process too. Looks like backroom politics and backstabbing."
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Then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had tapped Turner to serve as the top Republican on the panel starting in January 2022 after the lawmaker who had that job, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, resigned to lead Trump Media & Technology Group. After Republicans took back the majority that fall, McCarthy kept him on as chairman of the Intelligence committee for the 118th Congress, a term that started January 2023.
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When McCarthy was ousted and Johnson succeeded him as speaker in October 2023, Johnson decided to keep Turner in place as Intelligence chairman.
Now, after winning his first full term as speaker earlier this month, Johnson appears to be putting his own mark on this position and others. On Tuesday, Johnson appointed Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the former Education and Workforce Committee chair, as the new Rules Committee chair. And Johnson is keeping Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., in the role of Administration Committee chair.
Democrats on the Intelligence Committee said they did not get any warning that Turner was being removed.
"I'm enormously concerned because I think you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody as fair-minded," said Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Intelligence panel.
He added that Turner "and I had our disagreements, but, you know, I had confidence in him."
With Trump days away from returning to the White House, Democrats have been sounding the alarm that top intelligence and national security posts are being influenced by presidential politics.
Earlier Wednesday, Senate Democrats pressed former Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, Trump's pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, asking him if he would push back against efforts requiring CIA employees to demonstrate "loyalty to a political figure above loyalty to country.”
Ratcliffe, a former House Intelligence Committee member who served as Trump's director of national intelligence, responded that he would not impose a political litmus test on his employees.
“If you look at my record and my record as DNI, that never took place. That is never something anyone alleged,” he said. “It’s something that I would never do.”
