The House Ethics Committee on Monday published a complete list of members of Congress it has investigated for sexual misconduct and defended its process for addressing — and publicizing — reports of such behavior. @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/house-ethics...
& in a press release the Ethics Committee defended its process, saying it has always made the results of sexual misconduct investigations public whenever such allegations "were substantiated."
🚨Amid increased scrutiny on Congress & its handling of sexual misconduct allegations, the House Ethics Committee has released a full list of its publicly disclosed investigations into such conduct & their outcomes, dating back to 1976.
The celebrity news organization unveiled its new Capitol Hill team this week to much online fanfare — but aides to members of Congress say they have mixed feelings about TMZ’s entry into the Washington political media landscape. @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/tmz-in-dc-ho...
One hot topic for staffers: TMZ's practice of paying for tips. Unclear if the org is paying tipsters for its Congress coverage, but one Republican staffer told me their colleagues have been talking about how much money it would take for them to hand over Congress gossip:
Aides told me they're working to memorize the faces of TMZ's new Hill correspondents & that some staffers are plotting alternate routes for members to travel through the Capitol complex to limit interactions.
Some staffers worry about TMZ's intentions, but others are excited:
NEWS: I spoke to congressional staffers from both parties about how they & their colleagues are preparing members of Congress for encounters with TMZ's new Capitol team - as well as mixed feelings among Hill staff about having the celebrity news outlet around.
Story below⤵️
Though Pam Bondi was supposed to appear for a closed-door meeting with lawmakers, the Justice Department argues a congressional subpoena does not bind her because she is no longer attorney general. @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/democrats-bl...
NEW: Dems and Rs on the House Oversight Committee sparred Tuesday after fmr AG Pam Bondi failed to appear for an Epstein files deposition set by a March subpoena.
Dems threatening to hold Bondi in contempt, but DOJ says she is no longer bound by subpoena. www.courthousenews.com/democrats-bl...
Acting on a concurrent resolution from Congress, the committee would conduct an examination of a president to "determine whether the president is incapacitated" & transmit a report on its findings to Congress within 72 hours. VP can submit formal disagreement with findings.
The proposed commission would be composed of 17 members, including 8 House & Senate lawmakers from both parties & another 8 members who are "former high-ranking executive branch officers" incl. presidents, vice president, attorneys general and defense secretaries, among others.
NEW: @raskin.house.gov has unveiled a bill establishing a "Commission on Presidential Capacity," a body overseeing the 25th Amendment power to remove a president from office if "mentally or physically" incapacitated.
Comes as Dems scrutinize Trump for recent posts & statements.
#BREAKING: Swalwell to resign from Congress amid sex abuse scandal @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/swalwell-to-...
‘I thought it was me as a doctor:’ Trump downplays controversial post depicting himself as Jesus Christ @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/i-thought-it...
New: Facing intense backlash from his own supporters over a social media post depicting himself as Jesus Christ, President Donald Trump told reporters Monday he thought the highly controversial image merely showed him “as a doctor.”
More: www.courthousenews.com/i-thought-it...
Trump vs the Pope 🧐 on Truth Social. The president writes that the first American Pope is “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.”
“I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States,” said Trump.
NEW: Trump has nominated Matthew Schwartz, who worked on the president’s legal team appealing his criminal conviction in the New York hush money case, to fill a key appellate judicial vacancy on the Second Circuit.
Senate GOP forging ahead with Homeland Security funding, leaving Democrats aside @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/senate-gop-f...
WH spox to me on this:
NEW: Rep. Jamie Raskin has sent a letter to WH physician Capt. Barbarella demanding he conduct a cognitive assessment on Pres. Trump after “disturbing” rhetoric on Iran war. Comes as Raskin is preparing to brief House Dems this afternoon on 25th Amendment.
Story TK
The FBI appears to have arrested a source used in The Fort Bragg Cartel, a recent book by journalist Seth Harp about unexplained deaths at Ft Bragg & reports about drug trafficking among US special forces:
The Justice Department has informed the House Oversight Committee that former Attorney General Pam Bondi will not comply with a congressional subpoena to appear for an April 14 deposition on her handling of the Epstein files.
More: @courthousenews.bsky.social: courthousenews.com/articles/bon...
Lawmakers balk at Trump threat against ‘whole civilization’ in Iran war @benjaminweiss.bsky.social www.courthousenews.com/lawmakers-ba...
New: As Trump threatened “a whole civilization” in Iran war, members of Congress — out of Washington for another week — could do little more than chime in on the president’s rhetoric online and on television. No sign yet of pols returning to DC this week. www.courthousenews.com/lawmakers-ba...
Trump on Truth Social as his Iran negotiation timeline set to expire: “A whole civilization will die tonight.”
ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
Boasberg: “In denying the preliminary injunction, the Court does not discount the public value of the documents … This Opinion instead reflects the fact that the importance of sought-after information is not the test for securing a preliminary injunction.”
