Johnson removes Mike Turner, key GOP hawk, from House Intelligence Committee leadership
Turner’s dismissal causes bipartisan concern, as Johnson denies Trump’s involvement

Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Rep Mike Turner, R-OH, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Friday Aug. 12, 2022.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declined to reappoint Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, removing an influential internationalist from a key national security post.
Turner, a pragmatist, national security hawk and vocal supporter of Ukraine and NATO, had been reviled by the House Freedom Caucus and others in the conservative and isolationist wing of the GOP. Turner said in an interview with CBS on Wednesday that Johnson had told him his ouster was prompted by “concerns from Mar-a-Lago,” referring to President-elect Donald Trump, an accusation that Johnson denied.
“This is not a President Trump decision. This is a House decision, and this is no slight whatsoever to our outgoing chairman. He did a great job,” Johnson said. “It’s a new Congress. We just need fresh horses in some of these places, but I’m a Mike Turner fan.”
In losing his chairmanship, the Ohio congressman lost his membership on the Intelligence Committee entirely, as he had surpassed the term limit, from which chairs were exempt.
House conservatives were outraged by Turner’s championing last year of legislation reauthorizing key federal surveillance powers, which they and Trump opposed.
Turner also sparked frustration from some fellow lawmakers with a cryptic public warning about an urgent “national security threat” from a “destabilizing foreign military capability,” later reported to be Russian plans to launch a space-based nuclear weapon. Some right-wing colleagues accused Turner of making the announcement, which sparked panic in Washington, to drive support for Ukraine aid.
Another report in the Washington Examiner suggested Turner was removed because he failed to take a forceful enough approach to investigating the string of unexplained health issues among U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers referred to as Havana Syndrome.
Turner’s ouster prompted strong objections from hawkish, moderate Republicans.
In the previous Congress, Turner was one part of a triumvirate known colloquially as the “Three Mikes”: Turner and Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Mike Rogers (R-AL), who led the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, respectively.
The three were seen as among the most critical backers of Ukraine aid, who reportedly helped bring Johnson onboard with the foreign aid package that passed Congress in April, and generally as standard-bearers for traditional conservative internationalism.
Rogers is now the last of the three left in leadership — McCaul was term-limited as chair of Foreign Affairs and ultimately dropped his bid for a waiver for a fourth term; he was replaced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), who is an ardent supporter of Israel but generally more aligned with the Trump wing of the party. Mast, who voted against Ukraine aid, beat a pair of more traditional candidates, Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Ann Wagner (R-MO), for the seat.
Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), who will replace Turner as Intelligence Committee chair, voted against Ukraine aid last year and hails from a deep-red district. Crawford is seen as less hawkish than Turner, according to Politico.
Turner’s ouster has prompted alarm from House Democrats, who saw him as a substantive and bipartisan leader.
“Mike Turner is a serious, thoughtful and highly-principled leader, whose work as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee has been extremely impactful,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement. “Mike Turner has robustly promoted the safety of the American people and the Free World and his unjustified ouster is likely being applauded by our adversaries in Russia and China. Shameful.”
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Intelligence Committee Democrat who had a strong working relationship with Turner and made frequent joint media appearances with him, said the decision “sends a shiver down my spine” and said that the move was “a huge blow to our ability to do oversight.”