Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy highlighted Friday that the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights has shelled out nearly $20 million taxpayer dollars in the past few decades to settle “cases of sexual harassment & other misconduct committed by members of Congress.”
Ramaswamy’s comments come on the heels of former President Donald Trump’s indictment on Thursday. While the charges remain under seal, it has been widely reported that the case regards alleged hush money payments he made to Stormy Daniels in 2016. Many have critiqued the foundation of the case, including George Washington Law Professor Jonathon Turley, and a slew of Republicans, such as Ramaswamy, have asserted the charges are “politically motivated.”
WATCH: GOP Rival Ramaswamy on “Un-American” Trump Indictment: “We May Be Heading” to a “National Divorce”:
Vivek Ramaswamy / Twitter
The 37-year-old entrepreneur tweeted:
If you want to talk about hush money for sexual indiscretions by politicians, consider this: in the past 25 years, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights has paid a staggering $18.2 million of *taxpayer dollars* to settle 291 cases of sexual harassment & other misconduct committed by members of Congress. The public shouldn’t be paying for this nonsense.
Breitbart News referenced the office’s annual “State of the Congressional Workplace” from 2019, finding that $18,531,761 was paid out in nearly 300 workplace dispute settlement cases dating back to 1997.
Yes.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) March 31, 2023
A Twitter user responded, asking Ramaswamy if he would commit to calling for the release of deceased serial sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein’s client list, to which he replied, “Yes.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) shared a similar sentiment to Ramaswamy’s on Thursday evening while appearing on Newsmax’s The Record with Greta Van Susteren, as Breitbart News reported:
Issa said, “The United States Congress, with some regularity, has paid people for settlements, which they then sealed, based on misconduct from members of Congress, and this has been reported. … And then they run for re-election without the public knowing it.”
Host Greta Van Susteren then said, “Okay, well, I love a level playing field and I love transparency. Your party has a majority in the House of Representatives. You could introduce a bill to unseal all the secret payments made by Congress, by both Republicans and Democrats. How about it, why not do that? I mean, let’s lay out all the cards, as long as we’re looking for justice tonight.”
Issa told Susteren he “would be happy to do so.”
“But I will say there [are] enough that have been reported over the years on a number of members of Congress for you to know that it does occur, it has occurred,” he added.
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