GOP congressman says Pelosi should lose speakership

House Democrats should choose a new leader in the wake of current Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) allegations that the CIA misled Congress in intelligence briefings, a House Republican said Friday.

“This is an enemy of national security that holds the gavel of the Speaker of the House, and now she’s accusing the CIA, the people that have kept us safe over all these years to be a group of liars who willfully and calculatingly lied to the United States Congress,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said during an appearance this morning on Fox News.

“It is outrageous, and the American people need to speak to their Democrat members of Congress and ask them to come up with a new speaker,” King added.

Pelosi has been under siege from Republicans who have accused her of distorting the extent to which she was briefed on the treatment and tactics used on terrorist detainees. The GOP has also targeted the speaker for her Thursday comments indicating that the CIA had lied to Congress.

King’s statements mark the first time a House member has called for Pelosi to step down from her position as leader of the House and the third in line to the presidency.

Pelosi told CNBC yesterday that her leadership has “absolutely not” been harmed by the kerfuffle over the briefings.