Reps. Massie, Greene Call for Release of ‘Congressional Sexual Misconduct Fund List’
Two days before Christmas, the House Ethics Committee (HEC) released a 37-page report alleging that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) had used illegal drugs and paid women for sex between 2017 and 2020. The report also claimed that one of his partners was 17-years-old at the time. According to HEC rules, an investigation ends when the subject resigns from Congress. Nevertheless, long after Gaetz’s resignation from Congress and his withdrawal from consideration for the attorney general nomination, the committee chose to release its findings.
In light of this decision, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) called for the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to disclose the names of lawmakers who have benefited from over $17 million in taxpayer funds used to “quietly settle charges of harassment (sexual and other forms) in Congressional offices.” In a Thursday post on X, Massie asked, “Don’t you think we should release the names of the Representatives? I do.”
In November 2017, Axios reported, “Congress has paid out more than $17.2 million over the last 20 years to cover 268 settlements on Capitol Hill, according to the Office of Compliance, which was set up in 1995 under the Congressional Accountability Act. In 2002 and 2007, those tallies topped several million dollars.” If the payouts totaled $17.2 million in 2017, it’s reasonable to assume the amount has grown significantly over the past seven years.
Massie included a clip from a June House Judiciary Committee hearing in his post, during which he had raised the issue with Trey Trainer, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission. Referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s then-recent conviction in a Manhattan courtroom on 34 felony counts related to a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, Massie said:
Congress has paid over $17 million in hush money for sexual misconduct inside of the offices in these buildings. And what’s more, that was taxpayer money, right? The allegation is that President Trump paid $130,000 of his own money, but here in Congress, we have – there may be some on this dais. I mean, I’m for turning loose all of these records. Who in here has had the taxpayer pay for their sexual misconduct charges the hush money?…I don’t know but I do know it is taxpayer money. And I do know not a single penny of it has been turned in as a campaign finance expense. Wouldn’t — I mean, is the FEC going to investigate the $17 million that the Congress has paid to settle, you know, behind closed doors, these sexual misconduct allegations?
Massie’s call to release the list was quickly echoed by other Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and former Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
Elon Musk replied on X, “Whoa? Yeah.”
Taxpayers have a right to know which lawmakers benefited from this slush fund. The hypocrites among them (on both sides of the aisle) deserve to be exposed. Hopefully, the forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency will provide us with the transparency we deserve in this matter and well beyond.
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