WASHINGTON, D.C. — The new top Republican on the powerful House Intelligence Committee favors refocusing on policy and moving away from the politics that consumed his predecessor.
When southwest Ohio Congressman Mike Turner became the ranking member — or top Republican — of the House Intel Committee in January, it catapulted him into being one of only eight members of Congress who are regularly briefed on the most sensitive intelligence collected by the U.S. government.
“What would you say right now is the biggest threat America faces globally?” Spectrum News asked Turner, R-Ohio, in a sit-down interview inside his Capitol Hill office this week.
“Really, for the first time in my lifetime, we're going to be facing near-peer adversaries, both Russia and China, that are going to have both military and technological capabilities that equal or exceed our own in some areas,” Turner said.
Turner’s been in office since 2003 and wants to refocus the Intel Committee on policy, not politics, especially as Russia’s war on Ukraine rages.
“My goal will be to return that committee to national security,” Turner said. “National security is a bipartisan issue. Everyone is for making certain that our country is secure.”
Turner takes over the role from former California Congressman Devin Nunes, a highly partisan figure who used his leadership position to support and defend former President Donald Trump at all costs.
The Intelligence Committee became host to former President Donald Trump’s first round of impeachment hearings in 2019, when Democrats accused Trump of withholding military aid to Ukraine and its new president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for political favors.
While Nunes slammed the inquiry as a hit job, Turner made headlines for being one of the few Republicans to criticize Trump for the call.
“I want to say to the president: This is not OK,” Turner said during a September 2019 hearing. "That conversation is not OK, and I think it’s disappointing to the American public when they read the transcript.”
Despite the criticism, Turner ended up siding with most Republicans and voted against impeaching Trump.
"Do you still feel it was inappropriate that Trump was impeached over that call?” Spectrum News asked Turner this week.
“Well, I don’t think it rose to that level. I do think that the call was inappropriate,” he said. “And I think when you look at the transcript, it is not what you would want to hear of your president in talking to a president of a country who was obviously under threat from Russia and was facing inevitably what turned into a war.”
While Nunes joined Trump in railing against America’s intelligence community as a “deep state” that sought to take down Trump, Turner has a much more traditional view that intelligence can help inform policymakers.
He’s now tasked with working alongside committee chair and California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, who led Trump’s first impeachment and regularly sparred with Nunes.
Though Turner signed a letter in 2019 calling for Schiff’s removal from the committee, he strikes a softer tone now.
“Do you still think he should be removed or can you work with him?” Spectrum News asked.
“Well, I mean, I have said to Adam Schiff that I'd be glad, to the extent that he wants to work on national security, to work with him on national security,” Turner said. “That is our goal. That is our objective, and that's my focus.”
Turner’s new role also has a direct impact back home in his Miami Valley district, which includes Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Turner spent years in Congress lobbying to grow the base, and the new role will only increase his influence.
“There's a tremendous amount of ability to continue to support Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as it makes its critical contribution to the Air Force,” Turner said.
If Republicans take back the House in this fall’s midterm elections, Turner would be in line to chair the Intel Committee.
He said national security would remain his top priority.