All posts tagged "ralph norman"

‘Not worried, no, no, no, no, nope': GOP squirms as Trump-Epstein scandal spirals

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is making many of his Republican allies on Capitol Hill squirm — but that doesn’t mean they’re backing down.

After dismissing his own MAGA base as “stupid people,” “weaklings,” “foolish” and “PAST supporters,” the president has changed his tune a tad. But for many members of Congress in both parties, merely allowing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury testimony is not good enough.

While the testimony would be welcome, members of Congress continue to demand the release of the full Epstein records, including the infamous client list that Bondi previously said was “on my desk" — and now denies exists.

“The grand jury release is a first step,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) told Raw Story at the Capitol.

“It's not going to have the information about all the other potential men who were involved, and that has to be a release of the witness memos, the release of the broader evidentiary file.”

If releasing the grand jury testimony was meant to placate Trump's critics, it’s already failed.

Republican rage

Republicans still seem to be struggling through the denial stage of collective grief after President Trump — who many referred to as “Daddy” throughout the 2024 election — spent the week lashing out at supporters and policymakers alike.

“My PAST supporters have bought into this “b—---,” hook, line, and sinker,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.

“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats[‘] work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”

After years of Trump stoking Epstein conspiracies, political watchers were left scratching their heads as the president did an about face, contradicting his campaign trail vows of transparency, justice, even revenge.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) is one of the president’s most devoted congressional allies, whether rocking gold Trump sneakers or not.

Raw Story asked him: “So wait, you don't think there's a change in tune from Trump on Epstein?”

“Why are we talking about Epstein?” Nehls said, walking down the Capitol steps.

“Because her committee,” Raw Story said, pointing to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Chair of the Task Force on the Declassification of Secrets. “The Task Force on Secrets is charged with investigating it.”

“Then let them do their investigation,” Nehls said.

“But they say that's harder because the DOJ under Bondi isn't releasing the information they need,” Raw Story said.

“I don't think that’s what the boss said. The boss said, ‘If there's stuff out there to release, release it,’” Nehls said. “I don't think the boss is being an obstructionist. We've got to talk about the wins we have and not get distracted over Epstein.”

“But Epstein was a promise to the base that you guys were going to uncover this pedophile ring,” Raw Story pressed. “You're not worried that the base is going to come looking for revenge?”

“So much great stuff to talk about other than that,” Nehls said.

“Sounds like wagging the dog?” Raw Story asked.

“Sounds like it's just — let's move on,” Nehls said. “Let's just move on.”

But many Republicans, like those on the Secrets Task Force, do not want to move on. They are demanding documents, answers and candor — none of which the Trump administration has been willing to provide without a fight.

“Do you guys plan on following the president's lead and dropping your Epstein investigation?” Raw Story asked Luna.

“No,” the congresswoman said.

Luna’s Secrets Task Force is new. House Republican leaders erected it, in part, to show the party’s base Republicans are taking on the so-called “Deep State,” investigating conspiracies from JFK’s assassination to whether 9-11 was an inside job.

Top of the stack of historical conspiracies party leaders saddled the task force with is Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged list of partners in crime. But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from talking to the chair.

“You can see all my comments publicly,” Luna told Raw Story. “You're going to see more of that, and that's all I’m going to say on that.”

“But what'd you make of this President saying ‘stupid people?'”

“Just look at my comments,” Luna said.

“I've read your comments,” Raw Story's reporter said, “but the President said y'all are ‘stupid’ for looking into it.”

“He didn't say ‘y'all are stupid.’ There's a lot of context there,” Luna said. “You'll see soon.”

Congressional Republicans aren’t used to presidential tongue lashings, which may be why many have tuned out what Trump actually said.

‘This is stupid’

“What’d you make of President Trump calling many in the base dumb for being curious about this Epstein stuff?” Raw Story asked Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).

“I didn't hear that,” Mullin said. “I don't think he called them dumb.”

“He said, ‘stupid people,’” Raw Story said, reading the president’s exact quote.

“He was using it in the context of being caught up in this instead of focusing on what we've accomplished,” Mullin said. “Instead of focusing on what we've accomplished, we're allowing this one issue to divide us. I think he was referring to, ‘this is stupid.’”

"It was a hoax. It's all been a big hoax. It's perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans,” Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday. “And foolish Republicans fall into the net.”

Dumbfounded, members of the press asked for clarification on whether the president was parting ways with some of his most ardent supporters — whether inside or outside of Congress. Trump tripled down.

"Yeah I lost a lot of faith in certain people because they got duped by Democrats," the president told the cameras.

‘We're going to have transparency’

It’s hard for Democrats to fathom, but no Republicans on Capitol Hill are looking for a political divorce from Trump. He is today’s Republican Party.

“What do you make of President Trump accusing y'all interested in Epstein of being ‘stupid people’?” Raw Story asked Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a veteran of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

“Look, President Trump has done more for this country, and I like his style. I like him, you know, regardless,” Norman said. “I'm not going to criticize him for one thing.”

“But you're not going to lay down on your calls to investigate Epstein?”

“We're going to have transparency,” Norman promised.

Like Norman, a growing number of the party’s rank-and-file find themselves on the opposite side of the Epstein scandal from the president. Awkward.

"I'm for full transparency on this. I'll be supporting releasing files," Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the U.S. Capitol. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo

"Obviously, I want to protect kids and no one wants to see child porn, but this is about right and wrong and it's ensuring we have trust in the process. I've worked with a lot of victims over the years."

"And you're not worried at all that there is stuff in these files on President Trump?" Raw Story asked the Secrets Task Force member.

"No, I'm not worried at all," Mace said. "No, not worried. No, no, no, no. Nope, no he's not a pedophile. That's ridiculous."

Mace and other Republicans demanding the release of the Epstein files are now more aligned with their Democratic counterparts than they are with their MAGA master. Before this week, Democrats were suspicious, but many are now convinced Trump is hiding something damning.

“It’s Trump showing true colors,” said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY). “He's a liar. He manipulates people,”

“Are you pretty convinced Trump’s on the list?” Raw Story asked.

“I think so,” Ryan told Raw Story. “It's the only explanation.”

When Trump tried to bury the investigation, he seems to have accidentally made Epstein the talk of the town. And that’s not a good thing.

'Internal rebellion'

It’s surely a new day in Trump’s Washington — ordinarily, Republicans just don’t cross him, in large part because those who have, have been primaried or pushed out of the party.

Despite GOP efforts to change the law, Trump is constitutionally barred from running for a third term. That makes him a lame duck, even as his allies on Capitol Hill need the very voters he’s alienating. Democrats are trying to exploit this newly forming fissure.

“The Epstein issue is a real issue in this space, and they don't want rich, powerful people protected,” Rep. Khanna told Raw Story. “It's the first time he's facing an internal rebellion on his own base.”

Strange new — if potentially temporary — alliances have begun to form. Khanna’s teaming up with libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to try and force both President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to release the Epstein files.

Massie’s been effective, according to Khanna, who says they’ve gotten roughly eight MAGA-tinged Republicans to sign their discharge petition — a rare procedural tool that enables otherwise powerless rank-and-file lawmakers to overrule the Speaker if they can garner support from more than half of their colleagues.

Speaker Johnson’s been doing the president’s bidding — abandoning most oversight of the executive branch, surrendering the power of the purse — but the discharge petition could cut him, other GOP leaders and Trump out of the equation altogether.

This latest GOP brawl is only energizing Democrats who’ve struggled to find their collective groove since Trump re-entered the Oval Office in January. Democrats sense GOP leaders are on their heels, which was on display all week as Johnson failed to muster enough GOP votes to even advance broadly bipartisan crypto bills.

According to Khanna, those disruptions were tied to the discharge petition. He says he has the votes to overrule the speaker, which is why GOP leaders are maneuvering behind the scenes.

“They're trying to avoid that, and then they're hoping that the momentum is lost during the August recess,” Khanna said. “But this issue is not going away. Are Republicans in the Trump administration protecting pedophiles? They're protecting the rich and powerful, and they're giving them impunity.”

Congressional Republicans reject the notion of some White House coverup. Rather, they say, Trump just wants to move on past his old buddy, Jeffrey Epstein.

"He just wants to be done," Mace said of the president.

There is broad bipartisan agreement on one thing — no one on Capitol Hill thinks the Epstein saga will end anytime soon.

In fact, many of the president’s Republican allies on the Secrets Task Force are vowing to keep the investigation alive until they get answers for their revved-up base.

"It's not going away,” Mace told Raw Story. “Look what's happening right now in Washington — we can't hold a hearing without it coming up, because Democrats understand the political wedge that it is.”

'Watershed moment': Freedom Caucuser predicts group could fragment even further

The far-right House Freedom Caucus' troubles might only just be getting started.

The infamous group, known for its firebrand politics, suffered an earthquake this week after Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) was booted from membership, quickly followed by the resignation of Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX). But according to Politico's Olivia Beavers, another member, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), thinks more departures could be coming soon.

"The House Freedom Caucus is facing a watershed moment, as several internal clashes risk ripping the group apart," wrote Beavers, noting that some members expect more resignations in protest of the Davidson removal. Speaking to reporters about the possibility of these resignations, Norman said, “I’m sure we’ll have some. We’ve got a lot of issues to address.”

The House GOP's razor-thin majority, earned after a surprising underperformance from expectations in the 2022 midterms, left the Freedom Caucus with an unusually high amount of power over the Republican caucus, as leadership can only afford to lose a small handful of votes on any party-line issue.

Freedom Caucus members played a key role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from power last year, even though a majority of the group's members voted against vacating him. Other drama from the group in recent years included the expulsion of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over concerns about her being too close to House GOP leadership, with whom members routinely clash.

This week's departures come shortly after the group's chair, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), went down in his primary against a Trump-endorsed candidate who was present at the Jan. 6 attack, contributing even further to the chaos within the group.

The Freedom Caucus' continued power is heavily dependent on Republicans retaining control of the House in this year's election, where Democrats have long been thought to have a good chance at reclaiming the majority but whose fortunes may be tied to President Joe Biden's performance at the top of the ticket.

‘Harm Democrats’: Republican lawmakers practically giddy about Trump prison silver lining

WASHINGTON — Many Republicans on Capitol Hill are all but daring New York Judge Juan Merchan to lock Donald Trump up ahead of November.

After former President Donald Trump and Republican campaign committees saw a windfall of donations after the guilty verdict came down, the GOP base is enlivened and that’s only emboldening rank-and-file Republicans who are feeling bullish.

“I think it’s bulls—,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Raw Story of the guilty verdict. “It’d be seen as election interference on steroids.”

ALSO READ: How Donald Trump could run for president — and lead the nation — from prison

Others are predicting political retribution to come for Democrats if Trump’s locked up, as one rumored GOP vice presidential contender told Raw Story.

“I think it would blow up the country,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Raw Story at the Capitol this week.

In these unprecedented, post-verdict times — mere days after the former president was found guilty on 34 felony counts by a jury of his New York neighbors — some on the formerly fringe-right are calling for the GOP to officially coronate Trump the Republican presidential nominee prior to the party’s scheduled national convention in mid-July, before the earliest time Trump could be sentenced to time in the slammer or otherwise placed in detention.

But of the 10 Republican lawmakers Raw Story exclusively interviewed this week, most are practically giddy about Trump’s post-conviction prospects regardless of whether the would-be leader of the free world himself remains a free man.

That’s a lot of money

Much of this enthusiasm revolves around money: The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee said they raised a combined $141 million in May — a figure that must formally be reported to the Federal Election Commission later this month.

It’s a staggering figure that nearly doubles Team Trump’s previous high fundraising mark this cycle. While some Republicans are nervous about the prospects of what’s just over the horizon, most Republicans are confident publicly and say Trump would be an effective GOP standard bearer whether behind bars or, say, on house arrest.

To Republicans, the entire trial was tainted from its inception, thus any sentence handed down is also necessarily tainted.

“Just further confirms the level of corruption,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) told Raw Story of the trial.

ALSO READ: 'Most powerful thing': Witness details Trump's last moments before 'shocking' verdict

“But do you think he'd be effective as the GOP nominee?” Raw Story asked.

“Yes,” Wilson said. “It shouldn't occur. And people really need to focus: If it can happen to a former president, every American citizen — regardless of party — is at risk.”

Talking points aside, even as Trump’s lawyers appeal the verdict, the reality TV star-turned-politician is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. If the judge decides to lock Trump up, Graham thinks Trump’s base will erupt, again.

“I don't know how much more of a boon they can get. I talked to ‘em this morning,” Graham told Raw Story at the Capitol. “They can't count the money fast enough. The reaction in terms of financial support has been beyond anybody's imagination. I think if they continue to trend in the eyes of millions of Americans using the New York case to interfere with the election, you know, it only gets more support for Donald Trump.”

The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), has seen a massive spike in donations since the verdict. He predicts a similar response if Trump’s jailed in New York, because he says it would turn Trump into a martyr for the MAGA cause.

“His fundraising will explode, even more so. And I think they'll see this as a political prisoner,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) told Raw Story. “It's awful. Trump probably had a better chance getting a fair trial in Honduras.”

Nevermind that Honduras’ former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was convicted in Manhattan Federal Court this March — on cocaine smuggling and weapons charges.

Desperate times, desperate convention?

Shortly after the guilty verdict reverberated across the globe last Thursday, the MAGA wing of Trump’s base started calling — some say, conspiratorially so — for the GOP to move the party’s scheduled convention up. The convention is scheduled for July 15 to July 18 in Milwaukee, Wis.,, afterall, and the sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

Coincidence? Never.

New conspiracy? Always.

ATTENTION ALL OF MAGA!

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Republicans in Congress were quick to follow their followers, even if altering the convention’s timing would be a logistical nightmare.

“Consider moving the convention. Don't let that get messed up by virtue of that,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told Raw Story. “Like, move it up. And whether that's in Milwaukee or whether you do a sort of an informal — or a different kind of convention — to get the nomination knocked out before that occurs.”

Roy says it would send an important message.

Standing by! https://t.co/sQFLC1MLfn
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 31, 2024

“It sends a signal that the party’s resolved,” Roy said. “Look, I've been very public in my differences with the [former] president on different things. This is a republic. This is where we are. He's the nominee of the Republican Party for president of the United States. He's been targeted in a ridiculous politically motivated personal prosecution.”

The Republican drumbeat is deafening. Nobody knows what Merchan will do. In fact, because Trump’s never been convicted before and because he’s not charged with a violent crime, some prominent legal minds don’t expect any jail time — perhaps probation, a fine, community service, even nothing at all. Trump has also vowed to appeal his conviction, and the appeals process could take months.

You wouldn’t know that from talking to rank-and-file Republicans, though.

“They are gonna do it, and he will get the biggest, have another big fundraising haul,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “American people sense what's going on, and they're furious. And it'll just incite them more to take up for Trump, and you're seeing it already.”

One of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s top lieutenants, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), agrees.

“I think people are awake,” Cornyn — who’s running to replace McConnell as GOP leader —- told Raw Story. “There's been so many abuses — that would just be the icing on the cake.”

Those GOP talking points have now, seemingly, become a part of the party’s DNA.

Republican retribution on horizon?

Republicans aren’t going to forget that Trump was convicted in a blue state, regardless of whether it’s the former president’s home state — a state Trump recently said he could win in 2024. If the GOP standard-bearer is jailed, then we should all brace for a new low in today’s gutter politics.

“It would be next level, man,” Vance of Ohio told Raw Story. “This is going to come back around, right? Eventually Republicans are going to have power, and I guarantee there are going to be really strong pressures to use this new precedent in a way that's going to harm Democrats.”

Republican rhetoric leaves no wiggle room: If Trump is jailed, the conservative messaging machine is going to unleash an unrelenting barrage of accusations that the prosecutions are all politics — jurors and their independent verdicts be damned.

“If there were, of course, a house arrest, it would be very transparently taken as a way to keep former President Trump off the campaign trail and a way to try to get Biden reelected through election interference as opposed to through our legitimate processes,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Raw Story. “The same would be true with a jail sentence. Most people can't even figure out what crime former President Trump was convicted of. So it just looks like such a sham.”

‘Let's not be distracted’

While Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) agrees that a Trump imprisonment would mean the former president would “raise more money and more likely win the election,” he’s also cautioning his fellow party members against focusing on the trials, tribulations and tumults of Trump.

“We should not take the bait and shift their focus away from the failure of [the Biden administration] on the economy, on the border, on global leadership,” Tillis told Raw Story at the Capitol this week. “Let's not be distracted and say, ‘poor me.’”

July 11 is just about a month away, but Tillis says it should be just another day to the GOP.

“I don't think he will be sentenced anytime — because that would, I just think, it's already mind blowing what he's going through — but if he is, let’s keep focusing on the thing that's gonna win November,” Tillis said.

Still other Republicans — even those who usually have an answer for everything — are mum.

“I don't want to answer hypotheticals,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story. “I mean, this whole thing is just a travesty.”

NOW READ: Michael Cohen, Red Finch and the fateful moment Trump lost the jury

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez takes 'victory lap' after making GOP see red over tiny green pins

WASHINGTON — Republicans can’t stop thinking about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). They see her everywhere — including in the sheen of their recently retired green congressional pins.

Turns out, when Republicans see green these days, they see a flash of Ocasio-Cortez and the Green New Deal she’s championed. That proved to be the driving reason behind why the GOP-controlled House of Representatives scrapped the official congressional lapel pin — which help Capitol Police officers quickly identify lawmakers — during the 118th congressional session.

“I hated the color,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) — while rocking a large defund the World Health Organization button — told Raw Story while walking across the Capitol grounds. “It reminded me too much of the Green New Deal.”

ALSO READ: Lauren Boebert’s high school has canceled the congresswoman

Like most of her Democratic colleagues, Ocasio-Cortez says this political pin drama shows how unserious, hypocritical and out of touch today’s Republican Party has become.

But the AOC-Green New Deal dust-up itself was “news” to Ocasio-Cortez.

“I don't know why they changed the pin,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story while walking to cast her vote on the House floor last week. “I had heard it was maybe a [George] Santos thing, but then, like, he can still use his pin, so I don’t know.”

When Raw Story caught up with her, Ocasio-Cortez was pinless — “I have the front, but I don’t have the magnetic back!” — and initially perplexed when informed her that a fellow Democrat had indeed picked green to in part signify environmentalism.

“Usually they don’t make political statements with them,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But if that's what it is, I'll take a victory lap!”

While Ocasio-Cortez’s head is high, many on the right are embarrassed that the retired green pins were replaced with new, dark blue-and-gold ones that cost an extra $40,000 — even as the party regularly berates Biden over the ballooning national debt.

Embarrassment aside, House Republicans have left a lot of their actual work undone, which Democrats are quick to point out.

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist reveals how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

“It's bizarre, isn't it? Why when we haven't funded Ukraine are we worrying about the color of the pin?” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told Raw Story.

In the last Congress, when Democrats were in charge, Lofgren chaired the House Administration Committee where she tried to mix things up by literally going green.

“I just thought, it's usually, like, either red or blue, right? Which fits in with the divide in the country. I thought, well, let’s have something that's neutral,” Lofgren said. “Green is agriculture. Green is the environment. Green is in the middle. Why not?”

Pin politics are real

Lofgren seems to have underestimated the juvenile nature of the contemporary Congress.

“I know what it was, the pins were designed when Democrats were in the majority so it was thought it was, you know, the Green New Deal,” Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) told Raw Story from behind his shiny green pin. “I thought it was whining, and I thought it was a waste of money to redo them mid-term. We don't have that kind of money here.”

As chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Glenn’s one of the rare Republicans embracing the green pins, which are still official 118th Congress pins — just this Congress now has two official pins.

“It's a Farm Bill year, so I own the green one. Given the fact that 92 percent of all planted acres are represented by Republicans, every Republican should embrace it, and I don't like wasting money,” Thompson said, before divulging his plan for what he sees as unnecessary replacement pins. “Never taken out of the envelope, but it's beautiful. It’s going in my collection, but I'm not gonna wear it.”

Thompson’s not just an outlier in the GOP. The green pins were initially off-putting to many Democrats, too.

“Originally it was kind of like, ‘Huh?’” Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) told Raw Story.

But many Democrats — or at least their wardrobes — just evolved along with the gaudy green pins.

“Everybody started buying green clothes. I went and bought a green suit,” Payne said, before ripping on pouting Republicans. “Ridiculous. Just live it out.”

While the new pins are reported to cost an estimated $40,000, no one in power seems to want to talk about that price tag, let alone petty pin politics, in general. Raw Story’s requests for comment from the Architect of the Capitol (the office charged with running all things Congress, including the pin program), House Administration Committee and Speaker Mike Johnson’s office were not returned.

Washington’s pin culture

Washington is weird. That’s not news. But Capitol Hill has a particular fetish for pins and buttons.

This Congress kicked off with many Republicans rocking aggressive AR-15 lapel pins, which did the trick and offended their gun-control supporting colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

“It’s hard to imagine they put AR-15 pins on,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) told Raw Story at the time.

Not all pins are meant to personally offend the opposing party, although lawmakers are all about making statements.

Some plug their home states, such as Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), whose lapel pin is the shape of his home state.

“I don’t know — might have been the cheesemakers — but it was some Wisconsin group and I put it on to show how appreciative I was,” Grothman said.

Other pins may not be head turning, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hyper-political.

Take these little red heart pins with two baby feet in the center, which signal support for a national abortion ban covering any human fetus whose heartbeat has been detected.

It’s not meant to offend, said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), who added that he doesn't mind if his liberal colleagues are offended regardless.

“Everything though is gonna have a political bent to it, right?” Kelly told Raw Story. “We can't do anything normal.”

Former history teacher Rep. John Larson (D-CT) is on his 13th term in the House, so he’s ditched the official congressional pin for years now. In its place: a rectangular JFK pin — paying perpetual homage to his political hero of a bygone era.

“I haven’t worn anything but this since 2017,” said Larson, who also now wears a blue and yellow pin to show his solidarity with the people of Ukraine. “I’ve been around long enough, so people recognize you.”

Source: Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin’s Instagram account, where he muses, "Did I wear my U.S.-North Korea pin to the DMZ? You are gosh darn right I did."

Of course, American flag pins abound, along with solidarity pins showing the American flag alongside U.S. allies. Washington Post foreign policy columnist Josh Rogin even found a North Korean-American flag solidarity pin for sale at the State Department that he couldn’t resist wearing regularly at the Capitol — or even while traveling to the DMZ with former Vice President Mike Pence.

An array of rainbow flags are also everywhere in the Capitol these days. And if you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll likely see at least one neon bicycle pin, which is worn — and peddled to visitors! — by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Blumenauer co-chairs the Bike Caucus, as well as the Cannabis Caucus, but for the latter role, he usually rocks a marijuana leaf-dotted bow tie.

It’s rare, but occasionally you’ll catch a campaign button, such as those on the made-for-clicks outfit Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wore at this year’s State of the Union address.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained inventor Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) sports an ever-rolling digital clock on his lapel.

What does it signify?

“Debt clock, I built it,” Massie told Raw Story. “It’s got WiFi. Goes to Treasury [Department] once a day and calibrates.”

“Where we at right now?” Raw Story asked Massie on the Capitol steps last week.

“34,585,640,78-dot-dot-dot-dot,” we read along with Massie.

“I wanted to induce anxiety in my colleagues,” Massie said.

As for the new pin? Massie may be a millionaire from his time in tech, but he’s also always looking to make a buck.

“Mine's new in the wrapper. I didn't take it out. It's still on the placard with the spouse pin. One day when everything blows up, I'm gonna sell it on eBay,” Massie said. “And the bonus. Just wait, there's more: The Republicans thought they were so ugly, they made their own pin. So now I got a three pin set, new in the wrapper, never-been-worn-before condition.”

‘I'm trying to think of what else they've done, and I can't’

Pins and buttons may make statements, but members of Congress were sent to Washington to make policy.

No pin can mask this Congress’ historical level of dysfunction-induced gridlock.

Like other conservatives — including Greene, who dropped the same motion to vacate on Speaker Johnson that was used to oust McCarthy — Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is still upset GOP leaders broke the party’s 72-hour rule and released the final $1.2 trillion government funding measure last Thursday before bringing it to a vote on Friday.

“Now we're a little bit back to the usual way of doing things where things are cooked up behind closed doors or dropped on us,” Roy told a gaggle of reporters after last week’s last House vote. “We need to get back to what we're doing last year. It was working, and let's try to do that.”

“You forgot, you all were able to change the color of the congressional pin!” Raw Story reminded Roy as he was walking back to his office across the street from the Capitol.

“I know,” Roy replied through a smile. “That is one thing!”

Democrats weren’t impressed with how the GOP functioned — or dysfunctioned? — last year, but they can’t help but agree that this do-nothing Congress has now accomplished one tangible thing: Republicans successfully lobbied to ditch their green pins.

“Literally. I'm trying to think of what else they've done,” Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story. “And I can't.”

‘Mean girl on a revenge tour’: Kevin McCarthy has knives out for his ‘Gaetz 8’ tormentors

WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy may have been publicly beat down before being booted out of power after just 269 days on the job, but his presence is still being felt in the GOP.

And McCarthy’s got some scores to settle first.

McCarthy’s allies have been on the offense against some of the eight far-right Republicans who cost him his coveted speaker’s gavel last fall and prompted his resignation in December.

Super Tuesday provides McCarthyites an opportunity: Three of the House GOP’s “Gaetz Eight,” as they’ve been dubbed in some corners of Capitol Hill, are on their state’s respective primary ballots. More primaries will soon follow.

ALSO READ: ‘We're wounded:’ Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to lead GOP after ‘unnecessary purging’

While a longshot, McCarthy’s set on exacting revenge at the ballot box and knocking them out. He’s raising campaign cash for their primary opponents, rallying the old GOP guard to challenge these incumbents and, whenever possible, undercutting and belittling them with what little stature the third shortest serving speaker in U.S. history still maintains.

Many Republicans say this was inevitable after what the former speaker had to so publicly endure.

“Politics is a contact sport. They wanted to get rid of Kevin, were they going to assume he wasn't going to retaliate? That's human nature,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told Raw Story. “That's what I knew was going to happen.”

“What’s that say about him?” Raw Story inquired. “Isn't that literally kind of making their case? Putting personality over party?”

“I don't think so. People hold grudges,” Donalds said. “I would just say this: If there’s a job I've been trying to get for 20 years, and you take that away from me, you think I'm just turning the other cheek? Nope. I'm not. I'm not surprised, and they shouldn't be either.”

Others in the party are angry, especially because they say the former speaker amassed huge sums of political money purely because donors trusted him to help maintain Republicans' majority in the House.

“People are really pissed?” Raw Story inquired.

“They should be,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “Let’s use it to advance conservative principles. Anything but vendettas. It’s not right. I don't know how he feels good about that.”

Norman’s fellow South Carlonian, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), has the biggest target on her back from McCarthy, and she’s been letting it be known that she’s warring with McCarthy.

“He’s acting like a mean girl on a revenge tour,” Mace told Raw Story. “It’s mind numbing. I've always been against the establishment, and you're going to recruit the establishment to run against me?”

“The establishment” means Catherine Templeton, an attorney who former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) tapped to be her director of Labor, Licensing and Regulation before she came in third in the Republican Party’s 2018 gubernatorial primary.

Templeton did not reply to an interview request, but she recently netted the endorsement of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and her campaign claims moment is building ahead of South Carolina's June 11 Republican primary.

Mace laughs off the full court press from what she sees as the Washington establishment.

“He could not have picked a worse opponent,” Mace said. “She's a puppet to Kevin McCarthy. Like, that doesn't sell in my district. My district wants someone who's going to be conservative, but an independent voice. They don't want a puppet to Kevin McCarthy.”

‘He didn’t stay’

A week after South Carlonians vote — on June 18, 2024 — Virginia Republicans will decide whether to stick with Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) or ditch the newly minted chair of the far-right Freedom Caucus for Virginia state Sen. John McGuire (R).

McGuire netted the endorsement of former President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) after Good initially endorsed former Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in this year’s presidential primary. And last quarter, McGuire outraised Good by a few thousand dollars, which is not a good position for an incumbent to be in.

In January, Good tried to cuddle up to Trump by endorsing him after DeSantis bowed out. While Good is now moving to the MAGA end of the GOP spectrum, and he laughs off McCarthy’s presence in his district.

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“I think he ought to come and campaign for my opponent. He’s funding my opponent's campaign. I think my opponent should bring him in to campaign for him. I think that'd be terrific,” Good told Raw Story.

The barbs in the contest are getting swampy.

“I don't think the people of the 5th District [of Virginia] are gonna let their seat be bought by D.C.-California swamp interests, but that's clearly who's funding my opponent’s campaign,” Good said. “Heck, McCarthy's bragging — his affiliates are bragging about their funding this campaign and others — so I think they ought to just come and campaign for my opponent. That'd be terrific.”

Further south, in Tennessee, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) has been able to fend off potential primary challengers, in part by having Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) come down to host a fundraiser for him in February.

Burchett has had a bone to pick with McCarthy since the former speaker allegedly elbowed him in the back at the U.S. Capitol. And there’s a lot of time between now and the state’s GOP primary on Aug. 1, 2024.

“I knew he was going to. I knew it when I made that decision. I knew he’d use his $17 million that was given to him by Republicans to beat Democrats, obviously. But that's the world we live in,” Burchett told Raw Story about McCarthy striking back.

“Does this show you were right?” Raw Story asked.

“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Burchett said. “He didn't stay. You know he said he cared about the party, but then he leaves after he’s dethroned and puts us in a worse spot. So I think that shows exactly — and it goes back to the last thing he said to me was, ‘I really want to be speaker.’”

Sharp elbows

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) is the only member of the Gaetz Eight that pushed McCarthy out who’s retiring after this year. He’s not surprised McCarthy’s trying to weigh into local GOP politics.

“It’s Kevin. That's why he had trouble leading us, because it’s who he is,” Buck told Raw Story.

“It’s akin to hitting somebody in the back with an elbow.”

Close McCarthy confidant Brian O. Walsh — a consultant with Red Print Strategy — is spearheading the longshot effort, as Politico first reported. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

McCarthy may be active behind the political scenes, but on Capitol Hill he’s become largely an afterthought.

“He couldn't beat us in Washington, you think he's gonna beat us playing an away game?” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said to Raw Story through a laugh.

One thing’s clear, there’s no McCarthy remorse from the “Gaetz Eight.”

“That’s his prerogative. He’s a private citizen now, he can do what he wants,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) told Raw Story.

Many other Republicans want to stay out of the mini-civil war still raging in their party.

“What do you think of McCarthy going after some of your colleagues from beyond the grave? Or from the grave?” Raw Story asked.

“You said that, I did not,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) replied through a laugh. “I'm not a big fan of internecine warfare.”

Perry is the recent former head of the fringe-right Freedom Caucus — a group that was a constant thorn in McCarthy’s side before evolving and derailing Johnson’s speakership agenda.

Regardless of whether Perry’s a fan, it seems internecine warfare follows the Freedom Caucus wherever it goes.

That’s why McCarthy still has many cheerleaders in Congress, especially now that the party’s most far-right wing has blocked, gutted and then opposed all efforts to fund the government long-term during this divided session of Congress.

“The ding dongs wouldn't vote for it, because I guess it looks like they wanted to hang McCarthy,” a senior California Republican who asked for anonymity to discuss his colleagues told Raw Story, before they added. “I’m glad for him.”

Are you the Trump ‘establishment’ Nikki Haley is mocking? We asked 10 GOP senators.

WASHINGTON — You know who doesn’t like being called “the Washington establishment”? The Washington establishment, it seems.

With former President Donald Trump winning numerous congressional endorsements ahead of today’s New Hampshire primary, former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) and her surrogates have started accusing Trump of becoming the “establishment.”

“Now we have a two-person race here. One who has the entire political elite around him, but I never wanted that,” Haley told voters Monday in Salem, N.H.

“Trump is more of the establishment guy now,” Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) — Haley’s top surrogate in New Hampshire — said on Fox News today.

But the new charge from Haley and her surrogates isn’t sitting well with Republicans in Congress.

“What do you make of Nikki Haely saying you and other Republicans backing Trump are the establishment?” Raw Story asked 10 Senate Republicans on Tuesday.

“That’s bogus,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Raw Story. “The definition of ‘establishment’ sure changed.”

“Oh, I don’t have a comment on that — none whatsoever. Zero,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) told Raw Story.

“She said that about me?” Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) told Raw Story.

“She said, ‘the Washington establishment’s coming around Trump’,” Raw Story replied.

“Umm, I mean, I don’t think that’s necessarily true — I don’t know, I haven’t even analyzed endorsements. I see these reports about how many senators are endorsing Trump and that sort of thing, but the decision is individual for each senator and each House member and everyone else. So I think those are individual decisions,” Crapo said.

“Does this race feel wrapped to you? Has Trump wrapped it?”

“I’m not going to go that far yet, but, obviously, Trump is making very good progress,” Crapo said. “Tonight’s vote will be important.”

Raw Story then asked a Trump arch enemy-turned-friend.

“Sen. Cruz, are you a part of the Washington establishment, as Nikki Haley says?”

Watch: Ted Cruz calls on Trump and senate for urgent appointment and confirmation of new Supreme Court justice President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump disembark Air Force One Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, at El Paso International Airport greeted by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and El Paso Mayor Dee Margo. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

One of Cruz’s aides laughed, but the junior senator from Texas didn’t reply or turn and instead kept walking into a lunch for Senate Republicans.

“No,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) told Raw Story after initially laughing off the charge. “No. I don’t think so. He’s very responsive to the grassroots, and that’s why he’s so popular with people.”

At least one Senate Republican isn’t laughing.

“Oh, I think she’s absolutely right,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Raw Story. “I’ve been saying this for a while, I use the term, ‘Trump establishment.’”

While Young never formally endorsed in the GOP primary, last year he announced he wouldn’t be backing Trump in the 2024 contest — in part because of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

“I think that the safe and predictable position of many Republican leaders in this place is to embrace the Trump establishment. Period,” Young said.

While Haley has secured one endorsement from a sitting member of Congress, Trump has secured endorsements from 122 Republicans in the House along with the backing of 26 Senate Republicans.

Haley’s one congressional endorsement — Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) — is from her home turf, and her lone Palmetto State backer only got lonelier in recent days after Trump won endorsements from former presidential primary contender Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) over the weekend and Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Jeff Duncan (R-SC) on Monday.

Some of Trump’s most diehard supporters in Congress reject the criticism that they’re now the “establishment.”

“I think that the Washington establishment is the only reason Nikki Haley has a campaign,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Raw Story. “When you think about where her donors come from, who her voters are, she depends on the Washington establishment, and if she didn’t have them, she’d have nothing.”

“Now that Trump has effectively wrapped this thing up, there’s this whole argument people try to make, ‘well, he’s the new establishment’ — he’s not the new establishment. He just won. There’s a difference,” Vance said.

In Republican circles in Washington, there’s an air of inevitability around the former president.

“He’s gonna be the nominee,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “I hope people try and put aside their differences and get behind him. If you want to beat Joe Biden — which I want to do — this guy, he’s gonna be it.”

Other Republicans fear Haley’s forcing the party to waste precious 2024 resources.

“She’s in the heat of a campaign,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told Raw Story. “Donald Trump’s going to be our nominee. It’s time for us to unify and get around him and stop wasting money on primaries.”

One of Trump’s 2016 primary opponents, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), didn’t drop out of the primary until after his home state voters backed Trump, so he isn’t reading too much into Haley’s new line of attack.

Donald Trump, Marco Rubio (Photo by Jim Watson for AFP)

“I mean, that’s a line that people in politics use when they’re campaigning,” Rubio — who Trump once derided as “lil Marco” — told Raw Story. “I was a candidate for president, and so you follow whatever angle you can pursue. I don’t think that’s what voters are going to make their decision on. I think it’s hard to argue that Donald Trump is somebody that’s a member of the Washington establishment in good standing.”

Rubio went down swinging past Super Tuesday in 2016, and he expects nothing else in this 2024 GOP primary.

“It’s like asking two people in a boxing match why they’re throwing punches at each other, because it’s a boxing match. You’re involved in a competition,” Rubio said. “It happens in Democratic primaries too. Kamala Harris insinuated that Joe Biden might have been a segregationist, and now she’s the vice president.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene wants GOP leaders to coronate Trump — right now

WASHINGTON — Just a tiny sliver of Republicans in one, single state have so far cast ballots in the GOP’s presidential nominating contest.

But for many GOP leaders, prominent Republican committee chairs and one of the Republican Party’s most well-known bomb-throwers, the time for candidates not named “Donald Trump” to quit the race is right now.

“Totally they need to drop out,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Raw Story while walking in an underground tunnel to the U.S. Capitol.

Even as Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) is planning to gain momentum in New Hampshire’s first in the nation primary on Tuesday, Greene dismisses her.

“She is gonna lose so big. It's not even funny. She's, like, she's not a real candidate,” Greene said of Trump’s former UN ambassador.

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As for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Greene doubts he has a future in the GOP primary or even in the cabinet if Trump wins a second term in the White House, because she says he abandoned his voters.

“They reelected him for governor and then he went running around the country trying to run for president. That's not a good thing,” Greene said.

It’s not just Greene.

“We need to unify,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) — who endorsed Trump earlier this month, which drew a public jab from former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) — told Raw Story as he walked through the Capitol flanked by his security detail. “The number one thing is you cannot allow these extreme radical left Democrats, including the White House that’s proven completely incompetent, to remain in power.”

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While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has yet to endorse anyone in the GOP presidential contest, over on the House side of the Capitol, each Republican leader is now publicly behind Trump. Many are also now anti-anyone else — see Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) new “Never Nikki” campaign — who’s still in the contest.

“Should they get out so the party can unify?” Raw Story asked.

“Yeah, definitely. Definitely,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) — who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee or NRCC — told Raw Story. “The American people understand Trump’s policies made them safer. Made their lives better.”

When Congress wraps up its work in Washington this week — which includes kicking the can to fully fund the government down the proverbial road — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the House Republican Conference chair, and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) are trekking to New Hampshire to join Trump on stage.

Other Republican heavy hitters say, what primary?

“I thought it was over before it even started,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and is helping party leaders plan their impeachment, contempt and censure strategies — told Raw Story.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo for AFP)

Trump has now been endorsed by 24 sitting U.S. senators and 117 current members of the U.S. House of Representatives. DeSantis has six House endorsements; none in the Senate. Haley has netted just one congressional endorsement.

Congressional endorsements shouldn't mean that much in an anti-establishment party.

But more so, these non-Trump supporters say party leaders are getting ahead of themselves, the candidates and Republican voters.

Trump handedly won more than 50 percent of the vote in Iowa’s caucuses earlier this week, but — in part because of blisteringly cold weather — the state party says roughly 85% of registered Republicans sat out this year’s caucuses.

“We just had the first one. This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) — Haley’s lone endorsement from a sitting member of Congress — told Raw Story. “It's not right for me or anybody else to call for anybody to get out. They can do it. I don't listen to that.”

“You know, the great thing about our system, you get on the ballot, let the voters decide what they want. You win or you lose, and you either move forward or you go out,” Norman said.

Many Republicans now say Trump is inevitable, but Norman says that’s premature.

“I disagree with that,” Norman said. “I disagree with that. Gotta give people a choice. Why give up now? Look at the work that’s gone into this campaign. Look at the time they’ve spent. It’s kind of an insult for anybody to say that. They’re not the candidate.”

Norman’s got company, even if it comes from the DeSantis camp.

After (unsuccessfully) barnstorming Iowa for DeSantis, two of his top congressional supporters — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Chip Roy (R-TX) — are doubling down on their endorsement of Florida’s governor.

The pair ditched their responsibilities in Washington this week so they could crisscross New Hampshire for their candidate, last minute — or ditch? — as their effort may be.

Other DeSantis supporters are feeling more lukewarm these post-Iowa days.

“For years, you have to show momentum in the early stages to keep on in the New Hampshire primary, so I suspect this year should be no different,” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) told Raw Story.

Good’s the new chair of the House Freedom Caucus. But he almost didn’t get the job, because he endorsed DeSantis over Trump.

“Do you see any momentum, though, from DeSantis or Haley?” Raw Story asked.

“I don’t see any momentum right now,” Good said.

Birtherism is back. But these top GOPers are tired of Trump’s citizenship conspiracies.

WASHINGTON – Birtherism’s back. But it’s tired. At least at the U.S. Capitol.

Ahead of Monday’s Iowa Republican caucus, former President Donald Trump has pulled out his old xenophobic playbook and is questioning the citizenship of former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) – Trump’s own former ambassador to the United Nations.

On Monday, Trump reposted a piece from the fringe-right, conspiracy-peddling Gateway Pundit falsely questioning Haley’s citizenship status.

But even Trump supporters on Capitol Hill are dismissing the lie.

“Nope,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) – Trump’s 2016 primary opponent who endorsed the former president last January – told Raw Story when asked about the Haley flap. “I haven’t even heard. What’s the issue? Was she born here?”

“Born on U.S. soil ...” Raw Story replied.

“That’s all that matters,” Graham said.

“... but Trump says her parents weren’t citizens …”

“There's plenty of people who would like to change the birthright citizenship concept legislatively, but it's the law of land until you change it,” said Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Trump himself has vowed to abolish “birthright citizenship,” but the 14th Amendment clearly states “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are citizens.

In 1972, Haley was born in Bamberg, S.C., which no one disputes. Even if the question makes some Republicans uncomfortable, including staffers for former GOP presidential aspirants like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).

“About these rumors that Nikki Haley is not a U.S. citizen,” Raw Story asked.

“Matt!” Scott’s aide exclaimed.

“The former president’s saying it. Do you have any worries about that?” Raw Story pressed.

“None,” Scott said while making his way to the Senate floor to cast a vote.

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While Scott has tried to stay out of the presidential fray since bowing out of the contest in November, his fellow South Carolinian Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) remains the only sitting member of Congress to endorse Haley so far in the 2024 contest.

Norman dismisses the birtherism barbs.

“In politics, it’s a blood sport, and everything's on the table,” Norman told Raw Story. “She handles that like she does all of it – in a great way. She’s strong.”

Trump famously – and critics say, racistly – questioned former President Barack Obama’s citizenship during Obama's two terms in office, because his father was Kenyan. Obama was born on U.S. soil – in Honolulu in 1961.

Trump relented and admitted Obama’s citizenship as he ramped up his own 2016 campaign, but his time off the birtherism bottle was short-lived.

With Obama term limited out, Trump then pivoted and unloaded birtherism conspiracies – along with JFK assassination conspiracies – on his Canadian-born fellow Republican, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose father was born in Cuba and was a Canadian citizen at the time. Cruz’s mother was born in the United States.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/donald-trump-ted-cruz-spar-over-canadian-birth/

While birtherism is dirty politics, Norman says the accusations – baseless though they are – aren’t necessarily out of bounds.

“Everything's fair game,” Norman said. “But if you attack my children, my wife, that’s not fair game.”

Other politicians aren’t so stoic.

“It’s a despicable tactic,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) – born to U.S. citizens on Pakistani soil, as his dad was a Foreign Service officer – told Raw Story.

Other Republicans are asking if Trump needs a civics lesson.

“If you’re born in the United States – news flash – you're an American citizen, and you can run for president,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told Raw Story through a dismissive laugh. “It doesn’t depend on whether your parents were born in India or not.”

Still, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee isn’t surprised by Trump’s latest lie.

“It's designed to fire up the base and get people animated,” Romney said. “It's kind of par for the course.”

Other Republicans have found themselves defending Haley, even as they oppose her presidential bid.

“I have doubts about her candidacy, but not her citizenship,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) – who Trump dismissed as “such a negative force” in the 2016 primary – told Raw Story.

Former Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says there’s no question about Haley’s citizenship – “You go by the 14th Amendment … She is a citizen,” he told Raw Story.

Grassley also questioned Trump’s tactic, which he says hasn’t worked with Iowa voters in recent elections – and he wasn’t Ted Cruz.

“It didn’t register with Obama when they were accusing him,” Grassley told Raw Story.

Why aren’t corrupt lawmakers denied their pensions? Here's who to blame.

Wire fraud. Tax evasion. Money laundering. Sexual abuse. Child pornography. Since 1980, more than two dozen members of Congress have been indicted for such crimes, some spending years in prison.

But because of a series of legal loopholes, not a single former federal lawmaker who has applied for retirement benefits has ever lost their taxpayer-funded congressional pension, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told Raw Story.

Pensions for congressional felons have cost taxpayers about $3.7 million between 2007 and 2022, according to research from the nonpartisan taxpayer research organization, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

And the latest federally indicted congressman, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), might just keep his pension, too, even if he is found guilty at his trial scheduled for May. Menendez, who has served 17 years in the Senate and says he’s committed no crime, faces up to 50 years in federal prison across four charges related to allegedly acting as foreign agent of Egypt and taking bribes while serving as a public official.

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Menendez’s future pension cost to taxpayers? About $70,100 per year, estimates Demian Brady, vice president of research for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Exact pension amounts are not made publicly available by the government.

“Even if he were convicted, he could still receive his pension funds for probably a couple of years” thanks to legal loopholes, said Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics and campaign finance rules for the nonprofit Public Citizen.

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) and Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act are the latest legislation to outline the circumstances that would strip congressional felons of their pensions. But only certain crimes strictly related to their congressional duties would lead to pension disqualification.

The Office of Personnel Management determines eligibility for pension benefits based on the laws once a former member applies.

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“The problem with all these laws that would revoke pensions for members of Congress is that the convictions have to be entirely related to their official duties, so if they're convicted of some crimes that half involved their official duties and half involve robbery or something outside their official duties, then they don't lose their pensions,” Holman said. “Usually, these convictions are broader than just corruption crimes in Congress, and that's why it isn't generally enforced.”

While appealing their cases, former legislators can keep collecting their pensions, too.

“Your congressional pension is not forfeited until you are finally convicted, so that means until all your opportunities for appealing your case expire,” Brady said, pointing to former Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) as an example of a convicted felon who continued to collect pension funds while appealing his 10-year sentence for a racketeering conspiracy.

And for members of Congress who collect pensions while appealing, they don’t have to repay any annuities they collect even if the original verdict is upheld.

What does this mean for Menendez? Were he convicted, then still found guilty upon appeal, he would lose his pension benefits going forward but wouldn’t have to repay any pension collected while appealing, Holman said.

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“What Menendez is being charged with would be covered to eliminate his pension. The big loophole is that he still receives pensions until all his appeals are exhausted,” Holman said.

Menendez could ultimately keep his pension if he isn’t convicted of the charges that would strip him of his pension; if he is convicted of charges unrelated to his congressional duties; or the Office of Personnel Management deems him eligible for the benefit when he applies.

Legislators need to have served in office at least five years to be eligible to collect a pension. This means that another federally indicted current member of Congress, freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY), wouldn’t be able to collect a pension unless he got reelected for another two terms.

Santos said he plans to run for re-election even as he faces trial, so if he is reelected and serves at least five years, he would become eligible to collect a pension.

Some members convicted of corruption who could potentially lose their pension just haven’t turned 62 yet, the age when members who’ve served at least five years become eligible to withdraw pension funds.

Take former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), 58, who pleaded guilty in 2013 to conspiring to defraud his reelection campaigns of about $750,000, which was used to pay for various personal items ranging from a mink cashmere cape to a guitar signed by pop legend Michael Jackson.

It’s unknown whether Jackson will be denied his pension until he applies for benefits with the Office of Personnel Management.

For members who’ve served 20 years in Congress, they can begin collecting a pension at age 50, and legislators with at least 25 years of service can begin collecting at any age, as noted in a July 2023 Congressional Research Service report.

‘Held to the highest standard’

Some members of Congress are pushing for new legislation that would close loopholes related to legally troubled members of Congress receiving pensions.

Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) co-sponsored the No CORRUPTION Act, which would immediately strip members of Congress of their pensions upon felony convictions.

“The American people expect their elected officials to be held to the highest standard and do the right thing because members of Congress are here to serve them,” Scott said in a statement to Raw Story. “It’s common sense that if you’re a member of Congress and are convicted of a crime involving public corruption, you forfeit your right to all pension benefits provided to you by taxpayers and hardworking families — period. The No CORRUPTION Act is a good step to hold elected officials accountable, protect taxpayers’ hard-earned money and put an end to Washington dysfunction.”

The No CORRUPTION Act passed the Senate in the summer and is awaiting a House vote. Shortly after Menendez was indicted on Sept. 22, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) reintroduced the House companion bill of the No CORRUPTION Act.

"For too long, loopholes have made it possible for corrupt Washington politicians convicted of felonies to continue collecting taxpayer-funded pensions – that’s unacceptable,” Rosen said in a statement. “It’s why I worked across the aisle to find a commonsense solution to prohibit these corrupt officials from receiving a pension.”

Breaking down the pension loopholes

The first legislation enacted to restrict some government officials from collecting their pensions was the Hiss Act. Passed in 1954, it’s designed to take away pensions from government officials convicted of national security crimes such as treason, espionage and sabotage, or who pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in such cases.

The law was named as such as it intended to remove the pension of former State Department official Alger Hiss after he was convicted of perjury for denying he conducted espionage for the Soviet Union. In 1972, his revoked pension was reinstated as it was declared unconstitutional for the law to be applied retroactively, The New York Times reported.

In 1961, the law was amended to restore pensions to employees who were convicted of minor crimes not related to national security.

It wasn’t until 2007 that further reform was passed in the form of HLOGA, which expanded forfeiture provisions to include corruption, election crimes or misconduct in office.

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The reform was prompted by public outrage that numerous legislators convicted of corruption were still collecting pensions.

Among them: Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), who collected about $64,000 annually in pension payments despite being sentenced to an eight-year prison sentence for tax evasion, bribery and fraud, and former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), who collected an estimated $125,000 annual pension after going to prison for misuse of taxpayer funds.

The 2012 federal conflicts-of-interest and financial disclosure law, the STOCK Act, added additional provisions to amend pension forfeiture such as expanding the covered crimes related to corruption. It also extended the time frame for when a convicted member of Congress would be subject to forfeiture, according to a 2012 memo from the Congressional Research Service.

But loopholes remained. Convicted congressional felons could still collect their pensions while they appealed their convictions. Embattled federal lawmakers could also keep their pensions by taking plea deals for crimes not related to the pension forfeiture provisions.

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For example, former Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) pleaded guilty to obstructing and impeding internal revenue laws after her previous convictions, for which she served prison time, were vacated on appeals due to a jury issue. The lesser charges were not covered under the legal pension forfeiture provisions, Brady said.

She continues to collect her estimated $71,000 per year pension, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Taxpayers have paid her approximately $448,400 through the end of 2022, according to the foundation.

“So she got a nice break there, so she still gets her pension,” Brady said.

Pardons, meanwhile, equal pensions.

When, for example, Donald Trump was president, he pardoned several congressional felons, including former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), who was found guilty in 2013 of 17 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering and money laundering.

Renzi, who did not reach minimum retirement age until mid-2020, began collecting an estimated $16,000 pension in 2021, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimated.

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“Those who have been in office long enough then have their rights and privileges for the pension restored,” Brady said.

Trump also pardoned former Rep. Mark D. Siljander (R-MI), who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after being indicted on money laundering and obstruction of justice charges.

Former Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements to law enforcement officials, stood to have his pension denied but was pardoned by Trump, becoming eligible for a $10,555 annual congressional pension.

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to steal campaign funds, which is a crime that is not specified as a pension disqualifier in HLOGA or the STOCK Act, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Trump also pardoned him as well, and he remains eligible for a $29,000 annual pension.

“Legislation needs to be amended to at minimum show that when someone is convicted of a crime of corruption that they should not keep their pensions or that at least their pension should be diminished in some fashion,” said Dick Simpson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality. “The easiest is simply to deny them their pensions from that point forward.”

It’s already 2024 at the Capitol, and lawmakers are busy doing nothing

WASHINGTON — Your wall calendar may read “2023”.

But in the nation’s capital, 2024 is already raging. Election season firmly on lawmakers’ minds. Making laws? Not so much.

So far this year, Congress has only passed 12 public laws, including approving a 250th Anniversary of the United States Marine Corps commemorative coin and renaming the Veterans Affairs clinic in Indian River, Mich., the "Pfc. Justin T. Paton Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic."

Congress also averted a crisis of its own making when at the last minute they reached a deal to pay the nation’s debt obligations.

In the Senate, three-day work weeks have become the norm, while the House has now devolved into a perpetual digital dunk contest where the most cringe-worthy memes and statements win. Most of what passes for business this year on Capitol Hill are proposals that have little or no chance of ever becoming law — but what’s a law when you can rile up your base?

“Not very productive so far and there’s not a sense among the majority of members that productivity is what they’re after. What they’re after is messaging to their, unfortunately, most hardline base,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) — the former majority leader — told Raw Story while walking into the Capitol last week.

Lawmakers are now on their month-long summer break. When they return to Washington, D.C. after Labor Day, House Republicans and Senate Democrats will need to come together and hammer out their competing federal funding measures or risk a government shutdown on Oct. 1.

The clock is ticking.

Not everyone — particularly far-right Republicans — says the 118th Congress is hopelessly gridlocked and unproductive.

“No, we’ve done a whole lot,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story last week when asked about the 118th Congress’ record.

Norman, like others, pointed to the 10-year balanced budget House Republicans crafted. But this budget proposal will never pass the Senate, which you wouldn’t know from talking to Republicans, especially members of the Freedom Caucus, who have fought for deeper and deeper spending cuts than Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden agreed on in their debt-ceiling deal earlier this year.

“Things are going well. We’re having a really robust discussion, but at the end of the day, it's math,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told reporters in July as the Freedom Caucus was demanding further budget cuts than party leaders wanted. “This isn't a policy discussion. This is a math discussion.”

While a government shutdown looms in September, Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spent much of July pushing for votes on their respective measures clearing former President Donald Trump of his two impeachments.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Flickr/Gage Skidmore

“We’re still working on that,” Greene told Raw Story outside the Capitol in July. “Expungement is important. It’s writing the wrongs that were done here, impeaching President Trump twice, politically. Weaponizing the government against him just to smear his name and affect presidential elections.”

To be clear, the second impeachment involved charges Trump incited an insurrection after the 2020 election, on Jan. 6, 2021.

And Trump, for his part, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Washington, D.C., on his latest set of felony charges — these pertaining to his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“I believe we're witnessing the collapse of what used to be one of America's great political parties,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Raw Story. “I mean, there's an utter [Republican] descent into conspiracy theory, paranoia, pornography and extremist antics. I mean, it's just like a bag of desperate tricks and there's no program for the country.” Raskin calls the far-right turn of the House “dangerous.”

“Their lurching from antic to antic masks the collapse of their party into right wing authoritarianism,” Raskin said.

To others, the GOP under McCarthy is turning the House into “kind of a laughingstock.”

“Under McCarthy, we just see the House, as an institution, continue to decline,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told reporters at the Capitol recently. “One thing that has really shocked me over the last several years is, I thought so many of my Republican colleagues stood for something. That they cared about the institutions, took their political office seriously, but time after time, they really debase themselves in the service of Donald Trump.”

While Trump and his presidential campaign feel ever-present in the House, over in the Senate, lawmakers’ own 2024 reelection bids seem to be setting the tempo And the tempo, with its aggressive fundraising schedules and plenty of travel, has resulted in many three-day Washington work weeks.

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“It's a little schizophrenic,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Raw Story just off the Senate floor last week. “Members of both parties are not delighted. So, I know I'm circumspect about how I choose my words, but, yeah, it would be nice if things were predictable, and I don't know why they’re not.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) brushed aside criticisms of his new three-day Senate.

“We're working all the time,” Schumer (D-NY) told reporters last week. “Look at how much we're getting done. In the last month and a half a [National Defense Authorization Act] bill. Huge, with ramifications in many areas. Twelve appropriations bills and avoiding default, I'd say in a month and a half. That's a damn good record.”

Those appropriations bills may have made it out of committee, but they have yet to hit the Senate floor and the pressure campaigns that often accompany measures that are taken up by the full Senate.

The Senate floor schedule is also affected. As of July 27, the 118th Senate has held 212 roll call votes, compared to the 280 votes taken by the 117th Senate at the same point.

Fewer Washington work days has meant less time for Senate investigations, or hearings — along with more double-booked senators forced to choose one hearing over another — and less time for voting on measures touching just about every aspect of Americans lives, including stalled technology, climate and health care measures.

A light schedule while in Washington isn’t how the Senate ran when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) first arrived — in 1981.

“When I started the United States Senate, we started at 10 a.m. on Monday and finished at 4 p.m. on Friday, and nobody complained about it,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) complained to Raw Story. “And it's hard to get all the work of the country done when you only work two and a half days.”

Chuck Grassley jumps ship: Joe Biden should have access to classified briefings Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP

While Schumer denies the 2024 elections are top of his mind, Republicans say it’s obvious the leader’s running the Senate to help his long list of vulnerable incumbents next year — and to save the Democrats’ narrow Senate majority.

“I think Democrats recognize that they had a real challenging map for ’24, so they wanted to give their folks more time back in their home states,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told Raw Story last week. “Once the House was Republican, they figured they weren't going to get much done in terms of a Democrat agenda. So why spend the time here when they could be home trying to regain the Senate?”

The Senate worked two back-to-back three-day weeks in its lead up to recess. Those short weeks meant a couple late nights wrapping up work on the sprawling, must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, which frustrated senators — especially those who had to change out of their shorts and into a suit so they could preside over an empty chamber past midnight.

“It's just surreal. I'm going to have to get dressed in my suit at like 11 p.m.,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told Raw Story last Wednesday, predicting an audience size of “two people watching C-SPAN.”

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With end-of-summer politics eating up the Senate’s time, Fetterman’s heart was far from last week’s overheated Washington.

“I just want to go home and be hanging out with my kids and wife,” Fetterman said. “I promise, as a senator, I will never put out an amendment that is guaranteed to go down, because then that's performance art. That's kind of the thing that's frustrating.”

At the end of July, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) reintroduced their Transparency in Congress Resolution requiring members of Congress to publish their official schedules online, which the two senators already do, in contrast to most of their colleagues.

It’s not aimed at the Senate’s three-day work week, specifically. But, especially with his own much-watched 2024 race hovering over all he does, Tester thinks a little transparency will go a long way, especially when opponents can point to the Senate voting three days a week for much of the 118th Congress.

“Well, we work more than that. But you're right, voting [days],” Tester told Raw Story while heading to cast a vote on the floor last week. “I think you got to look at getting things done. If we're gonna get things done, that isn't an issue. If we're not able to get things done, like the appropriations bills, then that becomes an issue.”