Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert criticized fellow Republicans Friday, including Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, after the House voted to block a proposal that would have made records from congressional sexual misconduct and harassment investigations public.
The House overwhelmingly moved to block the resolution introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC. Lawmakers voted 357-65 to refer the measure to the House Ethics Committee.
The resolution would have required the release of ethics reports on sexual misconduct or harassment allegations involving members of Congress and their aides, while keeping victims’ identities confidential.
Speaking on Newsmax, Boebert accused lawmakers who opposed the measure of shielding colleagues from scrutiny. During the interview with host Rob Finnerty, she condemned the vote in blunt terms.
“This is absolutely disgusting for anyone to vote against this,” Boebert said.
Boebert also singled out fellow Republican Gonzales, who opposed the measure, framing the vote as part of a broader effort to avoid public scrutiny over misconduct allegations within Congress.
“I called for Tony Gonzalez to resign a couple of weeks ago, and I have put pressure on our leadership to call on him to suspend his campaign at the very least, which he did today,” she said.
Despite her outrage, Boebert stressed that her anger is not about a specific case of misconduct.
“I do not personally know anyone that needs to be exposed who has been in inappropriate relations with their staff. But in all of this, it needs to come out.”
She described the House vote as one of the most disturbing actions she has seen from her colleagues.
“This is one of the grossest things that I have learned of,” Boebert said. “And I think it was one of the most cowardice votes I’ve seen from my colleagues.”
Boebert also rejected arguments that releasing ethics reports would harm victims, noting that the proposal included safeguards to keep their identities confidential.
“Of course, this protected victims,” she said. “This is one way that they were looking to cover up these sexual assaults that took place, the sexual misconduct by members of Congress.”
The House vote drew attention because many of the same lawmakers previously supported legislation calling for the release of records connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Critics of the decision argue the contrast shows lawmakers’ willingness to demand transparency in outside cases while resisting disclosure involving sitting members of Congress.
Rep. Tim Burchett, who also supported the bill, also spoke on Newsmax, claiming that the strong opposition shows lawmakers are protecting each other. He accused party leaders of telling members not to vote for the measure and said the fight isn’t about law, but about transparency.
Burchett pointed out that many lawmakers who opposed the bill had supported the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“They’re pointing the fingers on Epstein, yet they’re not looking in the mirror at themselves,” he said, criticizing the inconsistency in Congress’s approach to transparency.
He added that the public deserves to know how taxpayer money is being used to settle harassment claims in Congress.
“There’s a slush fund. And there’s been over $17 million that has been spent on that of your money — of the taxpayers’ money — to pay off people that have been involved in harassment in their office, sexual harassment and other things,” he said, underscoring the financial and ethical stakes involved,” Burchett said.
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