{"id":8805,"date":"2026-08-07T05:35:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8805"},"modified":"2026-08-07T05:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:35:05","slug":"whats-up-with-all-these-scandals-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8805","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s up with all these scandals in Congress?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One lawmaker faces domestic abuse allegations; another, allegations of inappropriate behavior toward female staffers.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Dodgeball! Kickball! Trump\u2019s Patriot Games will look a lot like gym class.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Ethics experts say it’s hard for Congress to do much when the president openly flouts ethical norms for public office. (Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A member of Congress is accused<\/a> of throwing hot water on his wife and injuring his 2-year-old-daughter, who suffered a fractured collarbone. (Rep. Max Miller, an Ohio Republican, vociferously denies these claims.)<\/p>\n

Another member of Congress has been accused by the House Ethics Committee of \u201cpersistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct\u201d toward two young female staffers. (Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican, denies the allegations. He announced this week he wasn\u2019t going to run for reelection in November.)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just this week. In April, Congress was considering voting to expel two other House members: Democrat Eric Swalwell, who faced an accusation of sexual assault, which he denied, and Republican Tony Gonzales, who acknowledged having an affair with a staffer, a violation of House rules. (The staffer later set herself on fire and died.) Both men ended up leaving Congress.<\/p>\n

All of which raises the question: What is up with all these misconduct allegations and scandals in Congress? And what, if anything, can Congress do about it?<\/p>\n

A lot of these accusations are coming to light because it\u2019s an election year, said Steve Israel, a former Democratic member of Congress from New York who served in House leadership.<\/p>\n

Israel played a role in pushing then-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York) out of office in 2011 after Weiner acknowledged sending sexually suggestive photos to women. Israel said if Democrats didn\u2019t act, Weiner risked becoming a dominant election issue for his party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember members from competitive districts coming back to me saying, \u2018All people are talking about is, am I going to condemn Anthony Weiner?\u2019\u201d he said in an interview in April, when Congress was threatening to expel Swalwell and Gonzales unless they resigned. \u201cThe stakes are higher in an election year, and there is a much more intense desire to get these guys out before it seeps into their own elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politicization is another likely factor.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, is among the Republicans pressuring Miller to resign by next week in time for the party to pick a new candidate for the ballot in November. (This is a seat that Democrats could win in a really good election.)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter,\u201d Moreno wrote of Miller<\/a> in an extraordinary social media post over the weekend. \u201cIf there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

But most Republican leaders seem to feel differently.<\/p>\n

In April, Democrats turned remarkably quickly on Swalwell, probably not wanting to be peppered with questions about the serious allegations in their own campaigns. Republicans were slower to force Gonzales out. Republicans have a slim majority in the House and more to lose than Democrats by pushing out one of their own.<\/p>\n

Now the GOP majority is even slimmer, and the party is facing an election in which they could lose control of the majority in the House for the final two years President Donald Trump is in office.<\/p>

Read more Minnesota prosecutor asks Texas to extradite ICE agent to face charges in shooting case<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said of Miller this week. \u201cIt\u2019s not my business to get engaged in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller may also have the backing<\/a> of Republican voters in his conservative district. \u201cI know there are things in his past that people aren\u2019t happy with, and I\u2019ve had to set it aside,\u201d Ellie Hartzler, 69, told The Washington Post\u2019s Alexei Koseff<\/a>, pointing to her support for Trump.<\/p>\n

Edwards, meanwhile, lavished female staffers with gifts, trips and comments about their clothes, according to a report from the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. He is likely to face a censure vote, which is a formal but symbolic reprimand from his colleagues. His North Carolina district is also one Democrats have a chance to pick up in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s face it,\u201d Israel said this spring. \u201cWe are in a tribalized and polarized environment, where 40 percent are going to agree with whatever the Republicans say and 40 percent will agree with whatever the Democrats are saying. It\u2019s the 20 percent, the independent swing voter, that will determine who has the majority in the midterms. And in the data I\u2019ve seen, they don\u2019t pay all that much attention to the latest scandal in Congress. They\u2019re paying attention to the economy, and they have this peripheral sense that lawmakers are all corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what Congress can do about these scandals, that\u2019s tough, ethics experts say. Congress essentially polices itself with its own rules.<\/p>\n

There is some bipartisan momentum for ethics reforms: There\u2019s a push<\/a> to ban members of Congress from having sexual relations with any Hill staffers, which has Johnson\u2019s support. That would build off a 2018 ban on lawmakers dating their direct subordinates.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also been bipartisan support to ban members of Congress from buying and trading stocks. Last month, the House voted to ban lawmakers<\/a> from buying individual stocks, but the bill would still allow them to sell stocks, a potentially profitable endeavor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also hard to clean house when the president, his administration and allies have profited off their service, said Kedric Payne, who leads the ethics program at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.<\/p>\n

Trump has made more than $1 billion<\/a> off cryptocurrency; government contracts have gone to Trump-linked firms<\/a>; Trump is almost universally<\/a> picking his donors for ambassador posts; and Democrats are investigating this week why a South Korean company engaged in a trade dispute with the United States dropped $2 million<\/a> into a Trump holding company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public has a right to know that the president is using his office to become even richer,\u201d Payne said in a recent interview, \u201cand without pressure from lawmakers and the public, this activity may continue, and it diminishes trust in the entire government.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/i>Amber Phillips<\/i><\/a> writes <\/i>The 5-Minute Fix newsletter<\/i><\/a>, a quick analysis of the day\u2019s biggest political news. <\/i>Send her an email here<\/i><\/a>, or <\/i>ask a question<\/i><\/a> that could be featured in an upcoming newsletter.<\/i><\/p>

Read more Francesca Hong scrutinized over \u2018cancel Thanksgiving\u2019 post in Wisconsin governor race<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One lawmaker faces domestic abuse allegations; another, allegations of inappropriate behavior toward female staffers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s up with all these scandals in Congress? - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8805\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s up with all these scandals in Congress? - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One lawmaker faces domestic abuse allegations; another, allegations of inappropriate behavior toward female staffers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8805\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T05:35:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ccfcd346c68d40de5f0c0b7c200e10b0-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"What\u2019s up with all these scandals in Congress?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T05:35:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805\"},\"wordCount\":1121,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3a9619d6e9bb8c6c8a7225bda0094040-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s up with all these scandals in Congress? - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3a9619d6e9bb8c6c8a7225bda0094040-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T05:35:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8805#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3a9619d6e9bb8c6c8a7225bda0094040-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/3a9619d6e9bb8c6c8a7225bda0094040-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 22: Lawmakers arrive to the House chamber to vote on the continuing resolution to fund the federal government, Capitol Hill, January 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. 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