A handful of Republican women lawmakers are leading the charge in Congress to expose allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against their colleagues – allegations, one Republican House representative claimed, that “everybody” knew about but remained silent.
"It's complete bulls---," one House Republican told Axios, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Like you have all these guys sleeping with their employees, and nothing happens, and everybody knows what's going on."
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has been among the loudest voices in Washington calling for accountability with regards to lawmakers that have been accused of sexual misconduct. Last week, she vowed to publicly identify nine House members investigated by the House Ethics Committee over sexual misconduct allegations.
Last month, two lawmakers resigned after facing allegations of sexual misconduct – Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA). And yet, according to the House Republican who spoke with Axios, full accountability was still far out of reach.
“I think it's gonna take women burning down the house,” they said.
Mace revealed last week that more than $338,000 in taxpayer dollars had been spent over the past decade to settle confidential sexual misconduct and harassment settlements on behalf of lawmakers. She's also faced pushback from some of her Republican colleagues over her efforts, and broke ranks in demanding that former Attorney General Pam Bondi testify before Congress over her botched handling of the Justice Department's release of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.