Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has taken the unusual step of removing U.S. Representative Mike Turner (R-OH) as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Turner, a center-right lawmaker, is well-regarded on both sides of the aisle for his strong commitment to traditional Republican principles, particularly in matters of national security and defense.

Punchbowl News first reported the move, which CNN’s Annie Grayer is calling a “big shakeup.” Punchbowl’s Andrew Desiderio adds that “Turner is one of the biggest Ukraine supporters among Republicans on the Hill and is also very involved with NATO. Much more hawkish than Trump-aligned R’s would like.”

Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) weighed in with concern on the removal of his colleague: “I have confidence that Mike Turner would do the right thing. The fact that he may have been removed just sends a shiver down my spine,” he said, as Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported.

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Politico called Turner “an outspoken advocate for Ukraine funding and other hawkish national security stances.”

Axios noted that Turner “has at times broken with party leadership in a way that angered his GOP colleagues.”

“Most notably, he put out a jarring but cryptic statement last February warning of a ‘serious national security threat’ that turned out to be about Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapons.”

Last year, then-Chairman Turner agreed that Russian propaganda was a problem in the GOP, and that some Republican members of Congress had even spread it on the House floor.

“There are members of Congress today, who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not,” Turner told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly made that same false claim.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chair of house intel committee, agreeing that Russian propaganda has infected parts of the GOP base, and saying that some colleagues have even repeated this propaganda on the House floor pic.twitter.com/3NQj6VDIPX

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) April 7, 2024

Turner was one of the few Republicans to oppose then-Congressman Adam Schiff’s censure. He also did not sign Johnson’s U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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In 2022, Turner was one of just 47 House Republicans who voted to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, protecting existing same-sex and interracial marriages.

Heath Mayo, founder of the pro-democracy center-right group Principles First observed, “Demoting some of the few serious and competent people the House GOP conference has to offer. That’s Trumpism, though. Intelligence and expertise are threats. As a result, American leadership gets dumber and weaker.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

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Image: U.S. Space Force photo by Tiana Williams via Wikimedia Commons/public domain

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) invoked God and religion to harshly question Martin O’Malley, the former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and a former Governor of Maryland, about his personal views on abortion and his Catholic faith.

In her highly confrontational interrogation of O’Malley, a longtime Democrat who also served as Governor of Maryland for eight years and ran for president in 2016, Congresswoman Greene, a self-avowed Christian nationalist, invoked his Catholic faith to attack his beliefs about abortion.

“Since you’re very interested in being DNC chair, you are after all a lifelong Democrat politician — I don’t even know if you had a job in the real world, but you have been an elected politician for years,” Greene accused (video below). “Mr. O’Malley you’re also a Catholic, are you not?”

“I am,” O’Malley confirmed.

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“Do you serve God or do you serve the Democrat Party?” Greene asked.

“I serve God,” O’Malley responded.

An off-camera committee member interjected: “Mr. Chairman, as a Roman Catholic, I take offense at the suggestion that somebody has [inaudible] to God and their service as a Catholic.”

Greene tried to talk over the objection, which went unaddressed by the Republican majority chair.

“Mr. O’Malley, will you be supporting the murder of the unborn up until the day of birth like your party does? As DNC chair, will you be supporting the murder of innocent unborn people? Is that in line with your faith in God and the Catholic Church?” Greene said, appearing to grandstand.

“I trust the judgment of women and doctors over the judgment of government,” O’Malley patiently replied.

“Now, do you trust God’s judgment?” Greene continued. “Do you trust God that he loves and has created every single human being? Do you support the murder of unborn children and are you going to uphold that evil practice that the Democrat Party wants to continue? You see, abortions over 95% of them are unintended pregnancies. They use abortions as birth control. So are you going to continue the birth control practice of murdering the unborn children as chair of the DNC? Will that be, that be a policy?”

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O’Malley, appearing to near the end of his patience, replied, “I am pro-choice, and I trust the judgment of women and their doctors over judgments of government.`

“Well, thank you for letting God know where you stand with the murder of —” Greene snapped back before O’Malley interjected.

“I talk to God every day,” he declared.

“Yeah, well you might want to talk to him a little bit more, Mr. O’Malley, because you’re definitely in the wrong,” Greene charged.

The Republican from Georgia was not finished.

Minutes later she posted a short clip of her attack on O’Malley to social media, and wrote: “WATCH: ‘Catholic’ Martin O’Malley confirms abortion is the sacrament of the Democrat Party.”

O’Malley has been called “a Pope Francis Democrat” and a “a pray-every-morning, church-every-Sunday” believer, according to a 2015 Religion News Service article.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Greene: You’re also a Catholic are you not? Do you serve God or do you serve the Democrat Party? As DNC chair, will you be supporting the deaths of innocent unborn people?

O’Malley: I trust the judgement of women and doctors over the judgement of government

Greene: No, do you… pic.twitter.com/m5SMwzV4Ga

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 15, 2025

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Image via Shutterstock

On the campaign trail last year, candidate Donald Trump, time after time, not only suggested he could swiftly bring an end to Russia’s unlawful war against Ukraine, but at times even insisted he could—and would—do it before being sworn into office. But with Inauguration Day fast approaching, President-elect Donald Trump has washed his hands of a peace settlement, instead declaring that any resolution is now entirely in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I would fix that within 24 hours, and if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled. 100% sure,” Trump said on Fox News in March 2024, HuffPost reported.

“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled — we’re going to get it settled and stop the death,” Trump adamantly told supporters in June 2024.

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“I would fix that within 24 hours, and, if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled. 100% sure,” Trump vowed as far back as March 2023.

“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours,” Trump said again just months later, at a CNN town hall in May 2023, as TIME reported. “It will be over. It will be absolutely over.”

These are just a few of the many times Trump promised to personally end Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Now, he has an entirely different set of promises.

Sunday night, during an interview with Newsmax, Trump was asked, “You’ve said you want the Ukraine war ended in 6 months. What is the strategy to do that?”

“Well, there’s only one strategy,” Trump replied, “and it’s up to Putin. And I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with the way it’s gone, because it hasn’t got exactly well for him either. And I know he wants to meet and I’m gonna meet very quickly.”

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“I would’ve done it sooner but…you have to get into the office. For some of the things, you do have to be there,” Trump conceded, Reuters reported.

Q: You’ve said you want the Ukraine war ended in 6 months. What is the strategy to do that?

TRUMP: “There’s only one strategy and it’s up to Putin. And I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled with the way it’s gone” pic.twitter.com/ZCVUIgvTgQ

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 14, 2025

At a press conference last week, Trump went from promising peace before he took office, to six months after.

“I hope to have six months,” Trump told reporters, USA Today reported, before adding, “I hope long before six months.”

Trump has named Keith Kellogg to be his Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Kellogg, appearing to attempt to split the difference, settled on a timeline for peace of just over three months.

“Let’s set it at 100 days and move all the way back and figure a way we can do this in the near-term to make sure that the solution is solid, it’s sustainable, and that this war ends so that we stop the carnage,” he said, HuffPost reported.

Trump’s Ukraine/Russia envoy Keith Kellogg says he’s aiming for a “solvable solution” in Ukraine within 100 days of Jan 20. pic.twitter.com/nsl3BU837f

— Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) January 8, 2025

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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Image via Reuters