Three Republicans on the Committee on House Administration accused Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) of breaking House rules following the release of her “Media Report.”
Lofgren, chair of the House Administration Committee, wrote a nearly 2,000-page report documenting social media posts by Republicans who voted January 6 against certifying the presidential election results. The written report appears to be from her personal office.
In the foreword, Lofgren said she asked her staff to look at all public posts made on social media by members who voted to overturn the election vote. Lofgren said Republicans “betrayed their oath of office” and did not support the Constitution by starting an “insurrection”.
The foreword said:
Like former President Trump, any elected Member of Congress who aided and abetted the insurrection or incited the attack seriously threatened our democratic government. They would have betrayed their oath of office and would be implicated in the same constitutional provision cited in the Article of Impeachment. That provision prohibits any person who has previously taken an oath as a member of Congress to support the Constitution but subsequently engaged in insurrection or rebellion from serving in Congress.
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) is the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, where Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) also sit on the committee. In the letter sent to Lofgren, the three Republicans found the report to be wrong and offensive.
The letter they wrote questioned the report might be breaking House rules if it used money from the Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA).
The letter said:
As the Chairperson of the Committee which is responsible for overseeing the rules governing the use of the MRA, you more than anyone should know that the handbook is clear when it states “the MRA may only be used for official and representational expenses.” Using your personal office resources to investigate other Members of Congress cannot be considered to be related to your representational duties to your district.
The letter mentions the report, which is linked to her official House website, contains links to the websites and other social media platforms that are operated by the campaigns of the Representatives. This has been a “long-standing prohibition on official websites directly linking or referring to websites created or operated by a campaign or any campaign-related entity,” the members wrote.
The Republicans’ letter stated the committee they sit on, which Lofgren chairs, was not one of the four committees who held a hearing on January 6th. The committee has held no hearings and did not scheduled any on January 6th. The Republicans said their committee should be leading the review since it has jurisdiction over the U.S. Capitol Police, the House Sergeant at Arms, the Architect of the Capitol, and the Chief Administrative Officer.
In closing, they mentioned their hope to work together, moving forward, and focusing on the facts that have surrounded that day.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.