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Republican lawmakers voted to condemn California Rep. Adam Schiff for spreading the myth that President Donald Trump conspired with Russian authorities to support his 2016 presidential campaign.
As the Republican majority successfully censured Schiff, 213-209 along party lines, Fox News reports that Democrat members began shouting “Shame!” and “Disgrace” in the chamber on Wednesday.
Democrats continually interrupted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as he read the results, the outlet added. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., also referred to McCarthy as a “spiteful coward” and charged him of exhibiting “weak leadership.”
Despite the fact that the vote followed party lines, six Republican legislators decided to stay out of the debate by refusing to support the resolution, The Hill reported. Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., Michael Guest, R-Miss., John Rutherford, R-Fla., Dave Joyce, R-Ohio., Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., were among the six GOP members that voted “present” instead of voting for Schiff’s censure.
The passage of Wednesday’s resolution was the House’s second attempt at punishing Schiff for spreading the Russian collusion narrative.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., initially filed the measure last week, but it was defeated, Axios reported. It featured a $16 million penalty, which is half the price of the former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the 45th president.
Roll Call observed that the measure was defeated at the time because 20 Republican House members joined with the opposition. The revised resolution, which did away with a monetary penalty and instructed the House Ethics Committee to look into the California representative, was the one that GOP legislators were able to adopt on Wednesday afternoon.