Kevin McCarthy's effort to get Eric Swalwell booted from the House Intelligence Committee just backfired

This week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to have Rep. Eric Swalwell removed from the House Intelligence Committee because of his association with a woman who was alleged to be a Chinese spy during the 2010s. But House Democrats were not going along with it.

On March 18, the House rejected a resolution calling for Swalwell to be kicked off the Committee. At issue was Swalwell's connection to alleged spy Christine Fang, who helped with fundraising for his 2014 campaign.

Talking Points Memo's Zoë Richards notes, however, "After federal investigators made Swalwell aware of their concerns and briefed Congress on the issue in 2015, the California lawmaker says that he cut ties. He was not charged with any wrongdoing."

When McCarthy was railing against Swalwell this week, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff rose to his defense and made it clear that Swalwell was never suspected of any wrongdoing. Schiff described Swalwell as a "trusted member of our committee" and argued that McCarthy was merely trying to take revenge against the congressman because of his role in former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. Swalwell was among the impeachment managers.

McCarthy tweeted:

And Swalwell fired back with a biting tweet of his own: