Devin Nunes’ House Intel replacement is promising a new direction: report

With former Rep. Devin Nunes of California having left the U.S. House of Representatives to work as CEO of former President Donald Trump’s new company, Trump Media & Technology Group, Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio is now the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. Turner, according to Politico reporters Olivia Beavers and Andrew Desiderio, “wants to turn the page on the panel’s partisan past” but has “his work cut out for him.”

In an article published by Politico on January 7, Beavers and Desiderio explain, “For four years, the (House Intelligence) Committee was a chaotic microcosm of the partisanship that dominated Donald Trump’s presidency, in part due to ex-Rep. Devin Nunes' (R-Calif.) pro-Trump sycophancy. Now that Nunes has left Congress and the Intelligence panel, lawmakers in both parties are hoping the bitter fights can cease with the GOP side led by Turner — who’s occasionally broken from the ex-president and is generally more independent-minded than the man he’s succeeding. But that won’t be easy for Turner, who has to contend with lingering Trump-era tensions both inside and outside of the Committee’s secure basement workspace at the Capitol.”

Nunes, a far-right Trump loyalist known for filing frivolous lawsuits and promoting wacky conspiracy theories, had his share of conflicts with Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee — which is chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff of California. According to Beavers and Desiderio, Turner “hopes to repair cross-aisle relationships” on the Committee. They note that the 61-year-old Turner “contributed to” House Intel tensions when he “signed onto a 2019 letter calling for Schiff’s removal,” but now, the Ohio Republican is saying that he doesn’t want to oust Schiff.

Turner told Politico, “Obviously, Adam Schiff is not going to change fundamentally who he is, and that certainly is going to be a complicating factor. But on national security, I have a strong record of being able to work across the aisle and to try to advance what’s important to our country — and I’m going to continue in that vein.”