Free Republic

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) will be judged by a “secretive” Senate ethics panel over whether they had a part in inciting the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6.The Senate Ethics Committee probe “will unwind over an interminable timetable with little hint of where it is going,” Politico reports.The committee says nothing about its business until actions are taken. And it has a lot of business before it: Seven Democratic senators filed a complaint against the two GOP senators who led the effort to object to the election results, arguing that they ‘lent legitimacy” to the cause...

Full title: Ethics Committee releases messages showing Tlaib asking campaign for personal money, as ethics probes announced The House Ethics Committee on Thursday released a trove of striking internal campaign communications sent in 2018 by Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib , in which Tlaib urgently requests money from her congressional campaign to defray personal expenses. The document dump was related to the committee's ongoing ethics probe into Tlaib, which the panel said on Thursday would be "expanded" based on a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Additionally, the Ethics Committee acknowledged for the first time on Thursday an...

Lawmakers may face ethics violations if they talk about the “whistleblower” whose complaint spurred the impeachment inquiry during the upcoming public hearings, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the head inquisitor seeking to impeach and remove President Donald Trump, warned in a memo Tuesday. the Washington Examiner’s Byron York noted in a tweet highlighting the November 12 memo authored by Schiff: Whistleblower started Trump-Ukraine matter, framed issue in way House Dems have adopted for impeachment. Now Chairman Schiff orders GOP: Do not talk about whistleblower in impeachment hearings. If you do, you’ll hear from Ethics Committee. (snip) According to the memo, the...

Hon. Paul D. Ryan, Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Speaker Ryan: Thank you for the privilege of serving for the past 5 years on the House Ethics Committee. While few, if any, members seek this assignment, the collegiality of the members coupled with the seriousness of the jurisdiction have made it an experience I will treasure. When I became Chairperson of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform I knew I would not be able to keep all other committee assignments to include Judiciary, Intelligence and Ethics. Four committee assignments, including a Chairmanship, is a challenging workload. I...

It turns out the government secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to resolve a sexual harassment case filed by Judicial Watch against a Florida congressman with a long history of unscrupulous behavior. The veteran Democrat, Alcee Hastings, is most famous for getting impeached by Congress as a federal judge following a scandal involving the solicitation of a $150,000 bribe in return for “favorable treatment for defendants in a racketeering case before him.” The disgraced judge was an unindicted co-conspirator, but there was enough evidence against him for Congress to boot him from the bench. Hastings is one of only...

WASHINGTON – Rep. John Conyers will step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee pending the investigation into allegations ​he ​sexual​ly​ harass​ed staffers. In a statement released through ​Democratic Minority ​Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office on Sunday, Conyers said he would like to keep his leadership position but realized that he may “undermine” the committee’s work if he stays at the helm.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) announced he is stepping aside as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. “After careful consideration and in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me, I have notified the Democratic Leader of my request to step aside as Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee during the investigation of these matters," he said in a statement on Sunday. “I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger. I very much look forward...

Democrat Conyers Threatens to Take the Whole Damn Swamp Down With Him! The lawyer for Rep. John Conyers hinted the Michigan Democrat may take down “many others” with him if he is pushed too hard! The attorney for Democratic Michigan Rep. John Conyers, who is accused of continuously sexually harassing his female staffers, defended Conyers by indicating that there are allegations against “many members” of the House and Senate. This is getting to be quite entertaining watching the snakes squirm. Conyers is 88 years old!!! He's been there for over 50 years...these pieces of crap never want to leave DC...

From what we've seen over the years, it's not clear what skills (outside of government) Rep. John Conyers has to offer that would warrant a $174,000 yearly salary and perks and that just may be why his lawyer is not-so-subtlety warning the House of Representatives to back off or else. The fact this statement from attorney Arnold E. Reed was released via Tweet from Yamiche Alcindor, a New York Times "reporter covering Congress, race & social justice issues", we have a good idea where this could be headed.

The sexual misconduct reckoning that's sweeping the nation does cross party lines and political persuasions. Republicans and Democrats are in the crosshairs. Liberal media figures have also fallen. Yet, the Left is still engaging in the Bill Clinton protocol, circling the wagons and trying to downplay the accusations. Right now, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has four women, two of which wish to remain anonymous, alleging that he groped them. Leeann Tweeden who fired the first salvo also said that Franken forcibly kissed her during a 2006 USO tour in the Middle East. The other Democrat in the news is Rep....

The Democrats are in a tough bind. Yes, Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore has been hit with horrendous allegations of sexual molestation and abuse. Yet, it’s hard for Democrats to play holier than thou given how they treated Bill Clinton’s accusers. Moreover, given that there’s been an epiphany from some on the Left that they were just terrible people during the Clinton presidency, it’s also hard to cast aspersions on the voters of Alabama who are going to vote for Roy Moore next month. Guy exposed that yesterday debating this subject with Democratic operative Zac Petkanas on Fox. Guy...

Documents show the woman was declared a "temporary employee," and the payment did not come from the Office of Compliance.

The prominent Michigan congressman who illegally forced congressional staffers to be personal servants and work on state and local campaigns is embroiled in a major sex scandal. Various media outlets report that John Conyers, the longest serving House member and ranking Democrat of the powerful Judiciary Committee, secretly settled a sexual harassment claim by an employee with taxpayer funds from his office budget. Additionally, multiple former staff members accuse the 88-year-old lawmaker of repeatedly making sexual advances toward female staff. Democratic colleagues have already called for a House Ethics Committee probe, but there’s little hope Conyers will be punished since...

The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it will extend its inquiry into Rep. John Conyers's (D., Mich.) payments to his former chief of staff. The committee said it needed more time to review a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Associated Press reports. The report suggests that there is "substantial reason" to believe that Conyers paid his chief of staff, Cynthia Martin, for work she did not perform. In April of 2016, Conyers claimed to have placed Martin on unpaid leave, after she pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property. However, the ethics office said that she was...

Greg Nash The House Ethics Committee publicly acknowledged Monday it is conducting a review into Florida Senate candidate Rep. Alan Grayson. In a statement, the panel said it will issue a decision on whether to open a formal investigation into Grayson's activities by April 5. If the committee decides not to proceed with an investigation, it must release the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report on the case. Grayson's management of a hedge fund while serving as a member of Congress has been looming over the Aug. 30 Senate Democratic primary. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) earlier this...

John Boehner’s Speakership was a setback for Congressional ethics. He backslid on a number of important reforms, and helped to return the Ethics Committee to its traditional role of covering up wrongdoing by incumbent members of Congress. Boehner ally Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA), the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, is currently orchestrating a whitewash of apparent House rules violations related to a junket by ten House members to Azerbaijan in 2013. On July 31, the Ethics Committee announced that it had found “no evidence” that broke House rules. It plans “no further action regarding this matter and considers it...

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews announced Tuesday that he is resigning from Congress after more than 23 years, a decision that could short-circuit a House Ethics Committee inquiry into whether the New Jersey Democrat used campaign donations for personal purposes. Andrews, who previously aspired to higher office, said the inquiry was not a factor is his resignation, which is effective Feb. 18. He is taking a job running the governmental affairs unit of a Philadelphia law firm where his wife has worked. …

“That senator likes the youngest and newest girls,” said a young Dominican Republic hooker as she described in detail what allegedly went on at sex parties involving Miami ophthalmologist and high-dollar campaign donor Salmon Melgen and New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Of course Menendez is denying everything, something not difficult to do with the majority of the mainstream media covering up for the liberal democrat. When she heard the code word “chocolate,” a young sex worker said she and other females knew they were being summoned to various homes. She even preserved the phone number from which the...

It appears that four current members of the United States House of Representatives received loans via the VIP program of Countrywide Financial Corporation. Once again the motives of the former giant mortgage institution have been brought into question. Where they trying to peddle influence with these loans? Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and he has been investigating the VIP program for a number years. Issa reportedly learned about the four loans after issuing a subpoena to Bank of America. Countrywide was purchased by Bank of America in 2008 and...

Last week, the United States House of Representatives Ethics Committee voted to end its temporary deferral of a case against Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL). The US Justice Department had requested the deferral but has since withdrawn that request. The case had been deferred for over two years. Jackson, the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, is in his ninth term in the US House and is under investigation for allegations that he attempted to buy the open US Senate seat that was vacated by President Barack Obama. It has been reported that Jackson's supporters were willing to raise $1.5...