Speaker Johnson Removes Mike Turner as Chair of House Intel Committee

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) has been in Congress since 2003.

House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) speaks at the Cannon Office Building in Washington on March 12, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has removed Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) from his role as chairman of the House Intelligence Select Committee, his office told The Epoch Times on Jan. 15.

Johnson’s office declined to comment further on why he was removed and who will replace him on the prominent committee.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Turner’s office for comment.

Punchbowl News first reported the removal.

In February 2024, Turner warned of a national security threat pertaining to Russia. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) alleged this warning was an effort to prevent the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from being reformed to include warrants when Americans are included in surveillance. Ogles asked Johnson to investigate Turner over the matter.

“This revelation by the chairman was done with a reckless disregard of the implications and consequences said information would have on geopolitics domestic and foreign markets, or the well-being and psyche of the American people,” he wrote in a letter to Johnson at the time.

The committee has been in the spotlight over the past several years, such as being front and center during then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment over allegedly conditioning aid to Ukraine in exchange for the country investigating President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over his involvement with the energy company Burisma.

The GOP alleged partisanship on the committee led by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) removed Schiff from the committee in 2023, citing such bias.

McCarthy also removed Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) from the committee over allegedly having a relationship with a Chinese spy.

McCarthy sought to make the committee less partisan.

“I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I simply cannot recognize years of service as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee,” he wrote to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in a January 2023 letter, explaining his rejection of Schiff and Swalwell from the committee.

Turner, who represents Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, has been in Congress since 2003.