Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) will be fined $5,000 for dodging the metal detectors House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) installed following the January 6 riot.
According to a statement from the House Committee on Ethics, Crenshaw “has been fined pursuant to House Resolution 73,” which gives the Sergeant-at-Arms “the authority to fine Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner for failure to complete security screening for entrance to the House Chamber, and for other purposes.”
“On September 27, 2021, the Committee received a notification from the Office of the Sergeant at Arms that Representative Dan Crenshaw has been fined pursuant to House Resolution 73,” it said. “Pursuant to Section 1(a)(3) of House Resolution 73, the Committee hereby publishes the fine notification.”
According to the Daily Beast, “the penalty will come directly from Crenshaw’s paycheck, giving no opportunity for him to decline.”
Metal detectors were installed at entrances to the House Chambers in January following the Capitol Hill riot. Though firearms are prohibited in Washington D.C. and Capitol grounds, lawmakers have typically been exempt from the rule. When Pelosi installed the units, House members were ordered to leave all firearms in their offices.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) removes her shoes after setting off the metal detector outside the doors to the House of Representatives Chamber on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“It is tragic that this step is necessary, but the Chamber of the People’s House must and will be safe,” Pelosi said at the time.
Crenshaw previously criticized the metal detectors as ineffective virtue signaling. “When you’re a liberal there’s a propensity for action, even if that action is not effective. There’s a propensity for virtue-signaling even when that signaling is not effective,” he said.
In May of this year, the House Ethics Committee dismissed fines against Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) for evading Pelosi’s metal detectors.
Clyburn “deliberately avoided being screened” before entering the House chamber, according to a Capitol Police memorandum released by the ethics panel. A separate police report said Rogers had triggered a metal detector and entered the chamber anyway, saying he had to vote.
Each lawmaker had filed a one-page letter disputing the accusations. In two-paragraph responses dated Thursday, the bipartisan committee — with five Democrats and five Republicans — said that “a majority of the Committee agreed” to each appeal. The letters provided no explanations.
Pelosi has given no indication as to how long she plans to keep the metal detectors in place.
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