GOP congressman: Elect us and we'll spend next 240 days 'knifing the Biden administration'

On Saturday, Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) was caught on video boasting that his caucus plans to spend the next year “knifing” President Joe Biden’s administration and impeaching top officials.

Schweikert, who faces a tough reelection race for his seat in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District in November against Democratic nominee Jevin Hodge, also said House Republicans would work to “break up” the Federal Bureau of Investigation if they took back control of Congress.

The video was recorded by Lauren Windsor, a Democratic activist who founded The Undercurrent, a website that calls itself “a grassroots political web-show for investigative and field reporting.” Windsor filmed Schweikert without his knowledge at a Scottsdale, Arizona, “pro-family” candidate forum.

In the video, Windsor pretends to be a conservative activist and asks Schweikert if he would back election denier Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan over House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for speaker if Republicans win control of the House of Representatives in November.

“Are y’all gonna be able to get Kevin McCarthy out of leadership? We need somebody like Jim Jordan,” Windsor asks Schweikert in the video.

Schweikert responds that Jordan himself backs McCarthy before suggesting that the Ohio Republican would be more impactful as chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform:

Do you know what a speaker actually does today? No, seriously, this is big-boy politics. They raise money. All they do is travel around the country and raise money. Kevin McCarthy, if he becomes speaker, will spend 240 days a year traveling the country raising money. Jim Jordan, when he chairs the Oversight Committee, will spend 240 days knifing the Biden administration. The world has changed. It’s not [former House Speaker] Tip O’Neill anymore. And so you don’t put your warriors into the speaker job. You put your warriors in the committee chairs.

Windsor mentions to Schweikert people arrested in connection with the riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, talking about “all those things they’re doing to the freedom fighters in the jail in D.C.” and saying she hopes “you guys are gonna fight for them to get pardons.” Schweikert tells Windsor, “We need to win the White House.” When the discussion turns to the FBI, Windsor asks if a Republican majority would defund it.

“You don’t want to defund them. You want to break them up. It’s different. You want to be able to ship out anyone that’s political, it’s because you’re not going to be able to defund them,” Schweikert answers. “You defund the line items, you strip where they spend their money.”

He and Windsor discuss administration officials he’d like to see impeached: FBI Director Christopher Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

After Windsor tells him he’s “doing the Lord’s work,” Schweikert responds, “I just sometimes think the Lord has a sense of humor and he’s screwing with us.”

In 2019, Schweikert voted against impeaching Trump on charges of attempting to pressure Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his family.

“Our founding fathers never intended for impeachment to be used as a political tool. Today’s bipartisan vote against impeachment reconfirmed my colleagues across the aisle are unwilling to listen to the majority of Americans, and instead pursued impeachment based on their distaste for the President,” he said at the time. “Since President Trump was elected into office, the Democrats have worked tirelessly investigating him, neglecting precious time to work for the American people.”

Schweikert in 2020 was reprimanded and fined by the House Committee on Ethics after he admitted to 11 violations in 2020, including that he had illegally pressured his House office staff to work on his campaign.

The Cook Political Report rates the election race in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District a “toss up.”

A Schweikert spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.