On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) stated that he completely supports releasing the names of members of Congress who had taxpayers pay to settle misconduct claims against them and that what they did is worse than the allegations that former President Donald Trump appears to have been indicted for.
Host Greta Van Susteren asked, “[S]ince this is about hush money, hidden hush money — at least that’s the allegation — and, of course, how it was paid for, how it was reflected on business records, I boxed in Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) on this, it’s that Congress has got a little issue of its own where hush payments have been paid over the years and that has been…done out of taxpayer money, but the names of the people who were involved, the members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, has been kept quiet from the rest of the American people. Why not — this is a great moment of transparency, let’s lay out all the cards, why not the Republican House of Representatives, let’s unseal those records, let’s see what’s going on? Because apparently, it’s not so unusual.”
Fallon answered, “[T]hat’s a great idea, and I am 100% behind that, because it’s disgusting to have something like that happen, where you’re using somebody else’s money for something that you did, and then you settled. That’s one of the reasons why I ran for Congress, because things like that have to stop. Just because you’re a member of Congress doesn’t mean you’re above the law, and in Donald Trump’s case, just because you’re a former President of the United States doesn’t mean you’re below the law, either. But I think transparency should be equal and should be across the board and I would definitely urge our Republican leadership to do just that.”
Van Susteren then added that while the Trump indictment isn’t available to the public yet, it seems that it’s based on an allegation that “there were false entries made in the corporate records. But, as an aside, at least if this did happen, if all this did [happen], at least Trump’s paying with his own money. The members of Congress who did that, they were using our money to do it, to pay it off. That, to me, … it’s a different issue, but, to me, that’s worse.”
Fallon responded, “It definitely is worse.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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