The United States Congress is revolting.
And some of its leading female members are demanding a clean up of Capitol Hill.
“Go to church, find Jesus,” Republican Representative for Colorado, Lauren Boebert, insists. “Like I mean, why is everybody so horny here?”
Ms Boebert – who was forcibly removed from a Denver theatre in 2023 after she and a date created a “public disturbance” by openly groping each other – is one of a group of three high-profile Republican women making a very public stand against a flurry of sexual misconduct allegations surrounding the Hill’s menfolk.
Ms Boebert, along with Representatives Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, are demanding that Congress investigate itself.
“Swalwell and Gonzales are only two out of 435. We want to know what every member of Congress is hiding and using taxpayer dollars to keep buried,” Representative Mace said in a statement this week.
“This is not about playing party politics,” added Representative Luna.
“I don’t care if they are a Democrat or Republican; if there is evidence of unethical or illegal behaviour, the sooner we get that behaviour out, the better.”
That may now be happening.
Or not.
Capitol Hill has launched an investigation into its own sexual misconduct.
And the US Department of Justice is investigating its own controversial release of child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s files.
Both insist they can be trusted to investigate themselves.
Again.
Airing out the halls of power
Sexual misconduct appears to be the one truly bipartisan subject between the deeply polarised US Democrat and Republican parties.
That’s for both offenders and defenders.
Both are scandalised by ongoing revelations of indiscretions.
Both are publicly committed to clamping down on one another’s behaviour.
“There should be zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, harassment, or discrimination in the halls of Congress, or in any employment setting,” the bipartisan House Ethics Committee proclaimed this week.
The Ethics Committee was compelled to release details about its internal sexual misconduct investigations this week after Republican Representative Mace forced a vote on the matter.
It didn’t like the idea.
It insisted public disclosure “could chill victim co-operation and witness participation in ongoing and future investigations”.
The moves come after California Democrat Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Tony Gonzales were forced to resign amid a flurry of sexual misconduct accusations.
“Congress has serious moral and ethical problems, and McCormick, Gonzales, Mills, and Swalwell are the face of it,” Representative Mace posted to social media on Tuesday.
But that’s just the surface of Capitol Hill’s sexual dysfunction.
The delayed, heavily redacted and restricted release of court evidence surrounding Epstein’s arrest is also generating significant public (and bipartisan political) dissent.
None of his US enablers and accomplices has yet been brought to account. And none have been named – despite the identity of numerous victims somehow slipping through an obviously extensive redaction process.
Meanwhile, Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, is continuing to lobby the Trump Administration for a Presidential Pardon.
The US Department of Justice now says its Inspector General will conduct an audit into its own compliance with Congressional orders to release millions of pages of Epstein-related files.
Is it enough?
“At some point my colleagues need to decide if they are for or if they are against sexual predator,” Republican Representative Mace stated on Thursday.
“There is no middle ground here. You’re either with survivors or you are against them. Pick a side.”
Transparency tests
“The greatest hurdle the Committee faces in evaluating allegations of sexual misconduct is in convincing the most vulnerable witnesses to share their stories,” the House Ethics Committee statement reads.
So, in the interests of privacy, it intends to “release only the information that is necessary to hold Members accountable”.
And they get to decide which of their members this applies to.
Just as the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice got to decide whose names were revealed or redacted in the supposedly compulsory release of all evidence relating to the Epstein case.
Mr Swalwell and Mr Gonzales have both dodged the Ethics Committee’s scrutiny – it must end investigations once members leave office.
Any allegations must now be pursued in court.
“The Committee has always made public its findings whenever allegations of sexual misconduct were substantiated,” the Ethics Committee statement insists.
Of the 28 cases it has confronted, the Committee found seven members guilty of misconduct. Another seven were acquitted. One investigation (into Republican Florida Representative Cory Mills) is ongoing. And it “lost jurisdiction” to pursue the remaining 13 once they resigned.
“The Committee has also investigated several Members for their handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by their senior staff,” the Committee statement reads.
It did not reveal how many.
Capitol Hill rules explicitly ban sexual relationships between politicians and their staff members. But all allegations and investigations are conducted beyond public view.
A new bipartisan motion hopes to address this.
It seeks to force Congress to release its own financial records relating to a “sexual harassment slush fund”. The Congressional Accountability Act was used in 2015 to “settle” a sexual harassment claim made against former Democrat Representative John Conyers with $US27,000 of taxpayer money.
The self-passed Congressional Accountability Act of 2018 then removed the need to record or report such settlements.
“Since the enactment of that legislation, the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment by a Member,” the Ethics panel said.
But such Congressional evasions are drawing ire from among its own members.
“The best way to hold creeps and predators accountable is to force transparency!” Representative Boebert insisted on Wednesday.
Justice is blind
“Congratulations AG [acting Attorney-General Todd] Blanche,” Republican Representative Massie proclaimed in an April 3 social media post.
“Now you have 30 days to release the rest of the files before becoming criminally liable for failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.”
That clock is ticking down.
But the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice gets to investigate itself.
“Our primary objective is to evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the act,” the Department insisted in a statement this week.
The criteria should have been clear from the start.
“No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary,” the Epstein Files Transparency Act instructs.
Epstein died in 2019 in controversial circumstances while awaiting federal charges over an international child sex trafficking scheme.
The wealthy financier had a social contact list that included the highest-profile celebrities, politicians, academics and business leaders.
This includes former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, former US President Bill Clinton and then-celebrity television host and property developer Donald Trump.
The Epstein scandal was seen as evidence of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) election campaign conspiracy theory of a deep-state Satan-worshipping cabal controlling US federal politics.
It remains a powerful political motivator.
Fired Attorney-General Pam Bondi told Fox News shortly after taking office in February last year that Epstein’s personal client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now”. Later, she denied it even existed.
Now her successor-in-waiting must handle that Trump Administration hot potato.
The Department of Justice missed the Congress-imposed December 19 deadline to make all available documents public. And to supply unredacted versions to Congress itself.
Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna are now leading a push to ensure the Congressional orders are met, with the only condition being the protection of victims’ identities – not those of alleged offenders.
“We already know the Department of Justice failed to comply with the disclosure requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act under former Attorney-General Bondi, and they continue to withhold required documents under Acting Attorney-General Blanche,” Representative Massie told US media.
He accuses Mr Blanche of using his powers to “shield certain required documents”, despite such powers being overruled by Congress, adding that Blanche “as far as we can tell, neither requested nor obtained the original versions as required by EFTA”.
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer
