Familiar faces, familiar places: The latest from Capitol Hill
"I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places," goes the song by crooner Billie Holiday.
Those who toil in Congress certainly saw a lot of old friends in the old familiar places at the U.S. Capitol recently.
First, there was Vice President-elect and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.
Vance hasn’t even been a senator for two years. Yet he’s now bound for the vice presidency at age 40. He’ll be the youngest vice president since John Breckenridge worked alongside President James Buchanan in 1857.
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But Vance hasn’t been spotted at the Capitol much since President-elect Trump drafted him as his running mate in July. Vance was at the Capitol in June for votes. Gone for Fourth of July. Then selected as running mate. Then nowhere near the Capitol for the August recess. Vance only dipped into the Capitol for a doctor’s appointment with the attending physician to Congress in September. Then there was the election.
Vance didn’t parachute back to Capitol Hill right away. But he did come back last week for votes – and primarily to shuttle Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominees through a series of meetings with senators. Vance facilitated sessions between senators and defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building. Other meetings were in the Strom Thurmond Room in the Senate wing of the Capitol for former Rep. and former attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
At one point, Vance also took a strange diversion to the secure suite of rooms on the House side of the Capitol used by the House Intelligence Committee. It was never clear why Vance went there, who he met with or what was discussed.
A scrum of reporters tried to track Vance’s whereabouts when he and his entourage disappeared from the Strom Thurmond Room.
But the press corps stumbled upon someone else: former Trump Chief of Staff and former Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.
"I’m just leading a tour, guys," said Meadows when asked if he was there to talk with Vance or work on the transition. "This is just a private visit."
But Vance was soon back in the Strom Thurmond Room to talk with Gaetz.
Gaetz resigned from Congress after the President-elect tapped him as his first attorney general candidate. The Florida Republican abruptly resigned from the House the next day. Vance escorted Gaetz into the Senate wing of the Capitol last week for individual forums with members of the Judiciary Committee.
After his conclaves with senators, an ebullient Gaetz left the Capitol – departing via the House side.
"Senators have been giving me a lot of good advice. I'm looking forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive. They've been saying we're going to get a fair process. So it's a great day of momentum for the Trump-Vance administration," said Gaetz. "We're going to tackle fentanyl. We’re going to ensure that we don't have the DoJ involved in censorship any more. And make sure that we get the country back on track."
Gaetz withdrew from consideration 18 hours later.
Gaetz announced that his nomination "was unfairly becoming a distraction." He added that "there is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle."
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Colleague Alexis McAdams reported that Gaetz reached the conclusion on his own.
Gaetz’s resignation letter to the House made it clear that he did "not intend" to serve in the new Congress starting in January – even though he just won re-election.
So now Gaetz is a former congressman. He won’t be Attorney General and he’s a former nominee. And he won’t be a future congressman.
So, chalk down Gaetz as someone who probably won’t materialize around the Capitol often in the future.
Until he wants to. After all, former members are always allowed back into the building.
After Gaetz bowed out of the attorney general slot, I ran over to the Senate where I followed Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to the Hart Senate Office Building, and persuaded Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., to chat with reporters by the Senate Carriage Entrance. Once back inside, a man stood in a first floor hallway near the Brumidi Corridors, checking his phone. No one else paid him any attention. I’m not even sure other reporters had any idea who the man was.
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"Glad you aren’t around here any more on a day like this?" I asked.
The man chuckled and nodded in agreement.
It was former Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
But another former member also graced the Capitol that same day. Mostly to hector House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and his preparation of a report on the conduct of Gaetz.
"I said, ‘f--k it. I’ll come,’" said former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y.
And there he was.
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The House expelled Santos nearly a year ago, for, well, having less credibility as to who he was than Milli Vanilli.
"I’m completely, completely unrestrained from talking to you guys," said Santos to the press corps.
Santos was looking for Guest, the author of the House Ethics Committee report which ultimately led to the expulsion of the New York Republican.
Santos became just the sixth member ever expelled from the House. But as an expelled member, your status around the Capitol is the same as a former lawmaker who resigned, retired or lost. You are a former member. That means Santos has access to the Capitol complex. It’s a loophole that House members said they would fix after they booted Santos – but never did.
"If he runs away from me, I'll go stand in front of his office and scream at him through his door," said Santos of Guest.
"Have you been in touch with Gaetz at all?" asked one reporter.
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"No. No. He's busy. He's lobbying the Senate, which he should," replied Santos.
Note this was the same day Gaetz was at the Capitol meeting with senators – but just hours before he withdrew his nomination for attorney general.
"What do you think of Trump's other nominees so far?" asked a reporter.
"Great. It's fantastic. It's transformative. It's a proverbial wrecking ball to the swamp. And they're dealing with an existential crisis. And they're grappling for their lives because the American people have served them with a existential crisis and a mandate with Donald Trump," said Santos.
"Is it fair to say you have an ax to grind as he was the one who led the charge against you?" asked a reporter of Santos about Guest.
"Do you remember that my ethics report was incomplete and that there was a footnote that said we do not recommend any kind of punishment because it's not a complete report. And yet he still went and filed an expulsion resolution of errors full of misleading information that basically contradicted what was in the report?" retorted Santos. "So he's full of sh-t."
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Reporters then pivoted to whether the House Ethics Committee should publish its report on Gaetz – even though he’s a former member.
"He’s not scared," replied Santos. "I don't blame him."
"Do you plan to request a pardon?" asked another reporter.
"That's not a conversation I've had. I don't intend on that conversation," said Santos. "I am not entertaining that conversation."
Santos also told his audience that he did "not plan on running for office again."
Which means Santos may continue to surface at the Capitol, unabated, despite the ignominy of his expulsion.
Vance will certainly return to the Capitol periodically as Vice President to preside over the Senate and potentially break ties. But Gaetz, Meadows, Vitter, Santos and soon, Vance, all have the same status. They’re former members. And that means they can return to the Capitol any time they want.
