The now-former Republican chairman of a powerful House committee was ousted from that role this week by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), but some critics of the move have asserted that President-elect Donald Trump is responsible for the unexpected change that shocked many on Capitol Hill.

On Wednesday, Johnson removed Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) from his position as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, then announced on Thursday that Turner's replacement will be Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), according to The Hill.

Both the speaker and a spokesperson for the president-elect insisted that Trump had nothing to do with the decision, but that hasn't stopped critics from blaming him and his supporters in the GOP conference.

Turner pushed aside

Congress was shaken up on Wednesday when it was announced that Speaker Johnson would not reappoint Rep. Turner to remain as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, a position he was first appointed to in 2022 by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), according to Axios.

Some Republican critics of the move accused President-elect Trump and the House Freedom Caucus of being behind the ouster, given Turner's hawkish support for Ukraine and a perception among colleagues that he'd become too close to the intelligence community that he is supposed to hold accountable through oversight.

In an X post, Turner wrote, "I’m very proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman. There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them."

Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations," he continued and further added that he would continue to serve his district and the nation as a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Johnson names Turner's replacement

On Thursday, per The Hill, Speaker Johnson revealed that he had selected Rep. Crawford, the most senior Republican member of the Intel Committee, to take over as the chair for the new term of Congress.

"The House Intel Committee will play a pivotal role in this work in the new Congress, and Rick Crawford will provide principled leadership as its chairman," Johnson said. "He has earned the respect of his colleagues through his years of faithful service on the committee and his steady approach to the challenges facing our country."

The speaker also praised Turner for his service and stated, "He led the committee well during a very challenging period of our nation’s history and was fully dedicated to the task," as well as that he was "a highly valued member of our Conference" who would continue to contribute in different ways.

Crawford ready to go

Rep. Crawford responded in a statement that he was "truly honored" by the appointment and said, "I look forward to working with Speaker Johnson and the incoming Trump administration team to advance priorities that are important to Americans."

"As Chairman, I will aggressively uphold our mandate to provide credible and robust oversight of the Intelligence Community’s funding and activities. Without aggressive oversight and vigorous protection of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, the IC is prone to give in to mission creep and skirt U.S. laws," he continued. "In all our work, I pledge to preserve Americans’ constitutional rights even as we work to support the IC in doing everything required to collect indispensable information from our foreign adversaries."

Crawford further stated that now is the time to "course-correct from the Biden administration’s failures, promote common-sense peace through strength, and re-focus our nation's intelligence and counterintelligence community against our adversaries," and decried how "leaks and indiscretions by misguided intelligence staff can endanger Americans and hinder our ability to predict and prevent attacks."

The new chairman thanked his predecessor Turner for his prior leadership and added, "He led our committee ably and admirably, at a time when there was a distinct need for a steady hand. He is a valued member of our Conference, and I will build from the solid base his leadership provided this committee."