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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said Thursday that Republicans will try again to replace Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
In that vote, 20 Republicans rejected Luna’s censure resolution, in part because it recommended a $16 million fine against Schiff for telling “lies” about conspiracy between former President Trump and Russia, something that several investigations have never been able to prove. Luna says that number is about half the cost of investigating Trump, probes that could never prove collusion.
A legislator, Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., said including language about fining Schiff is against the Constitution. Because Massie and several other Republicans opposed that language, the House voted 225 to 196 to override the censure resolution.
But Luna, R-Fla., said Thursday she reached an agreement with those 20 Republicans on new censorship language and said the House is expected to vote on it soon.
ADAM SCHIFF DEVELOPS BULLET: HOUSE VOTES AGAINST BILL CENSORING HIM FOR TRUMP RUSSIA ‘LIES’
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., could still be censured by the House, after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., agreed with hardline Republicans to amend her censure resolution. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“We came to terms and negotiations and the language that will censor him and refer him to an ethics investigation for knowingly using his position as chairman of House Intelligence to lie to the American people, to lie to his colleagues , and also violates the rights, the civil liberties of individuals like Carter Page,” Luna told FOX Business. “So he will be held accountable.
“And it pleases me to see that he thinks that, you know, even yesterday, that he got away with it because he sang a different tune,” she added. “And he was very uncomfortable when I saw him in the corridors of Congress letting him know he was going to be censored next week.”
A spokesperson for Luna also told Fox News that the congresswoman has “agreed language with our 20 colleagues and looks forward to holding Schiff accountable for dishonoring our country and the House of Representatives.”
When asked on Thursday about the possibility of another censure vote, Schiff accused Republicans of helping Trump distract the public from his ongoing legal battle over possession of classified documents.
THESE 20 REPUBLICANS KEEP ADAM SCHIFF FROM CENSORSHIP ON TRUMP RUSSIA ‘LIES’
Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, this week watched the House reject her resolution censoring Adam Schiff, but said she has a deal with lagging Republicans to pass a new version of the resolution. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This is what it takes to please Donald Trump,” Schiff said. “She obviously wants to distract from the president’s legal troubles, and you have the MAGA people like Steve Bannon promoting this.”
A draft of Luna’s new resolution obtained by Fox News makes no mention of a fine against Schiff and also omits language accusing him of telling “lies” about Trump-Russia conspiracy. Instead, the new language notes several times that Schiff made “false” statements and allegations about Trump colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election.
“For years Representative Schiff has spread false allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia,” it read.
“On March 20, 2017, Representative Schiff continued false allegations from the Steele Dossier, accusing numerous Trump associates of colluding with Russia on the Congressional Record,” it adds.
SCHIFF IMMEDIATELY STARTS FUNDRAISING HOUSE GOP’S PUSH TO REVIEW HIM
Schiff accused Republicans of carrying out former President Trump’s order by censoring him again. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“As a prominent minority member and chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Representative Schiff behaved dishonestly and dishonorably on many other occasions, including publicly falsely denying that his staff had communicated with a whistleblower to launch President Trump’s first impeachment,” it reads. design.
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The resolution concludes by saying that Schiff will be convicted of “misleading the American public and inappropriate conduct” by a member of the House. It says Schiff will “present himself in the House source” and be censured from a public reading of the resolution, and says the House Committee on Ethics will investigate Schiff’s “falsehoods, misrepresentations and misuse of sensitive information.”
Pete Kasperowicz is a political editor at Fox News Digital.
