What A Day - Reining In The Congressional Culture of Harassment

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

The fact that the US Congress is absolutely rotten with creeps is one of the worst-kept secrets in Washington. From former Representatives like California Democrat Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Tony Gonzales, to sitting lawmakers like North Carolina Republican Representative Chuck Edwards – it turns out sexual misconduct is bipartisan, and so is the pushback. A bipartisan effort fronted by Florida Republican Kat Cammack and New Mexico Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez aims to rein in the frathouse behavior of their colleagues. To discuss what’s on the table, we called up Grace Panetta, political reporter with The 19th.And in headlines, Trump blames vandals for ruining a patch of grass on the National Mall, Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge that he’ll operate independently from the White House, and the Supreme Court rejected another request to throw out a jury’s 2023 finding that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll and later defamed her.Show Notes: Check out Grace's work – 19thnews.org/author/grace-panetta Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail]

You know, it's hard to say whether there are just more members of Congress acting inappropriately or if we're just hearing about it more. I think it might be a little bit of both, but, you know, definitely the co-chairs of this bipartisan caucus don't want to lose that momentum that have come out of the renewed attention to this. I'm Erin Ryan in for Jane Koston, and this is What a Day, the show that would never make its biggest fans sleep in a Bedminster locker room. Today I'm talking with Grace Panetta, reporter at the 19th, about Congress's attention. attempt to tamp down on all its resident sex pests with new ethics rules. Before we get into all that, here's what we're following today, Monday, August 17th. I believe ultimately that there'll be a coalition of nations, a combination of allied, NATO allies and Arab states in the region.

Everybody in the world has an interest in the Strait of Hermuz being open for commerce. Today marks 170 days since President Donald Trump impulsively launched a war with Iran, despite having no idea what might come next. Fresh reporting shows that Iran is brainstorming elaborate ways to inflict pain on the United States by drawing out the conflict and slowly squeezing the American economy. In other words, Iran is playing the long game while Trump thrashes around aimless and angry. Despite what the president wants people to believe, he doesn't play 19-dimensional chess. He sticks the pieces in his ears.

As the odds for peace in the Middle East keep falling, Trump is unleashing his frustration on allies. Oman has been a key mediator in the last. the war, negotiating with Iran on the future of the Strait of Hormuz oil route. The White House, however, just warned the country not to interfere with its blockade of Iranian ports or else America will attack them too. Trump told a Fox News reporter, quote, if Oman gets in the way, will bomb the shit out of them. For the record, he also threatened to blow up Oman in May.

Trump blamed vandals for ruining a patch of grass in the national mall, right where he hosted a giant July 4th celebration. He connected the grass patch to another nearby embarrassment of his own making on Sunday. The president posted a picture of the lawn and wrote on truth social, quote, look what vandals did to the grass connecting the vandalized World War II monument and the vandalized reflecting pool, which will be opened again and better than ever shortly. Okay, E. Cummings. Nothing to do with the lame celebration the president threw in that exact spot? Or the hot weather, right? Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals for damage to his renovation projects in the nation's

capital, often without evidence and sometimes despite opposing. accounts from his own officials. Authorities on Friday announced an arrest in connection with vandalism at the World War II Memorial after the words, quote, clean hands, dirty dollar sign were found painted on the monument and bubbles filled a fountain. U.S. attorney Janine Piro said felony charges will be brought against a suspect currently in custody. You, of course, used to be President Trump's former personal defense attorney. Can you pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House? Well, there's a big difference

between saying we will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that. And no Attorney General should ever pledge that. The president, I mean, if I were to pledge, I will be independent of the White House. What that means is that if President Trump says,

I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country, which is what he has said, what you're saying to me is I just say, no, sir, not going to do it. So I will act with integrity. Our prosecutors will act with integrity. We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor.

And that's exactly what we've been doing. And that's what every Department of Justice should do. Well, that certainly is a lot of words to say something extremely concerning. Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge that he'll operate independently from the White House during an interview with NBC's Meet the Press host Kristen Welker on Sunday. Blanche explained there's no need to since Trump would never ask. ask him to cross an ethical or legal red line. Sorry.

I can't get through that line without laughing. That's also interesting considering that A.G. Blanche was behind this next headline. Here's something we don't get to say often. The Supreme Court said no to President Donald Trump again on Monday. The justices rejected a second push from the president to throw out a jury's 2023 finding that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll and later defamed her. Trump paid the $5 million judgment shortly after the court declined to, to take up his appeal in June, although he has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump and the Justice Department are also asking the High Court to toss out a second defamation verdict regarding Carol. They argue he's immune from being sued over comments he made about her in 2019 when he was president. The court has not yet acted on that appeal. But if the justices go for a hat trick and say no to that one, too, Trump will owe Carol another $83 million. We love to see women get what they deserve.

And that's the news. Let's talk about sexual and misconduct on the Hill. The fact that the U.S. Congress is absolutely rotten with creeps is one of the worst kept secrets in Washington. From former California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell to former Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzalez and current but retiring North Carolina Republican Representative Chuck Edwards, it turns out that the thing that is most bipartisan in Washington is sexual misconduct. And women in Congress are not having it, a bipartisan effort fronted by Florida Republican Kat Kamik, a New Mexico Democrat Teresa Lageriefer. Hernandez aims to rein in the frat-house behavior of their colleagues. Congress is notoriously bad at policing itself, but with a rash of embarrassing headlines exposing creepiness on both sides of the aisle, will public calls for reform finally be heard? To discuss what's on the table, I called up Grace Panetta, political reporter with the 19th. Grace, welcome to What a Day. Thank you so much for having me, Aaron. Grace, it seems like every other week there is a new investigation into misconduct by a lawmaker. Today, it's California.

California Democratic Representative Jimmy Gomez for potential sexual misconduct. Surely as a reporter, you hear rumors about some of these guys before the news actually breaks about them. How widespread is this kind of misconduct in Congress, really? Yeah, Aaron, it's a great question. And there's really no way to get a clear accounting because the number one thing about sexual misconduct is that it's so underreported. Even with Capitol Hill being such a small world and they're being such a whisper network and everyone kind of knowing each other. a lot of this stuff, a lot of accusations don't even make the light of day, much less prompt an ethics investigation. So it's very pervasive and even more widespread than is even documented

or reported. This wave of allegations and scandals has inspired the leaders in both of the House's women's caucuses to beef up the ethics committee's processes. Can you tell us about the new bipartisan effort to make sure these offenses have more serious professional repercussions? Yeah. So Teresa Ledger-Fernandez, who the Democratic Congresswoman from New Mexico and the head of the Democratic Women's Caucus and Florida Congresswoman Kat Kamik, the head of the Republican Women's Caucus, have teamed up on a bipartisan task force to come up with recommendations to improve the process for reporting and for

accountability, free sexual misconduct in Congress. A couple of the things that they're looking at include beefing up the required trainings that members and staff are required to take. So far as just a virtual training. They're talking about, you know, maybe making that a requirement to be in person or having other ways to make sure that people actually take these trainings. And the other area that they're really looking at is improving the process for reporting these accusations of misconduct. Right now, there are three different entities that a staffer can go report to. It's a little bit of confusing. It's a little bit of a maze right now. And so I think part of the thing that they're looking at to is just streamlining the process to make it easier to report.

Maybe they could just issue all the intern signs that say no, that they can just wear. Yeah. Just to remind members of Congress, no. No. You're not going out on dates with them. No. If you also think Congress should have higher behavior standards than a mall food court Orange Julius, stick around. We'll get back to my conversation with Grace Panetta in a moment. If you are over Congress's dirty old man energy, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a day is brought to you by Bilt. Are you getting rewarded for paying your rent or mortgage right now? If the answer is no, you need to check out Built. Becoming a Built member means earning points on every housing payment no matter where you live.

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Perfect for taking the edge off after a long day and just as great for socializing, making good company even better. Willys is the number one THC-infused beverage in the U.S., with over 350,000 happy customers and 1 million plus bottles sold. Order now at drinkwillies.com and use the code WOD for 20% off your first order, plus free shipping on orders over $95. Or use the store locator to find Willys on shelves near you, like your local total wine, specs, ABC, or local liquor store. Let's get back to my conversation with Grace Panetta. Let's back up a little bit.

What is the Ethics Committee's process now? You mentioned it's a little Byzantine, but can you like, explain it to me like I just got harassed by my boss who's a congressman? Yeah. So for someone who has been sexually harassed, there are three different entities someone can go to. There's the Health Ethics Committee, which is bipartisan made up of lawmakers and has a staff that does these investigations. There's the Office of Congressional Conduct and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights. I know that's all a mouthful. And I think it just speaks to how, yeah, confusing. And like you said, Byzantine in this process can be. The Ethics Committee is notoriously secretive. They do a lot of their work. out of the public eye. And they're also notoriously slow to investigate these cases and to render their reports. So if somebody, like, if I went to the Ethics Committee, I would still be working with the person who harassed me maybe for months? Yes. Yeah, that's right. There's very little recourse for, you know, congressional staff who are being, you know, in a harassing or otherwise, you know, not ideal work situation. And it just speaks also to the fact that Congress is a very unique

workplace. There's no HR department. Every office is its own HR department. And your experience is really going to depend on obviously the member, but also the chief of staff, who the senior staff are. They really set the tone from the top down as to the culture in that office. And yeah, as you noted, no matter which entity a staffer goes to, the investigations, you know, might take months or even longer. I will say this year, when Axios first reported on potential sexual or inappropriate behavior by Congressman Chuck Edwards of North Carolina, the Ethics Committee did, you know, do an investigation in about five months and rendered its report in the last couple of weeks. So there are cases where, you know, they do work faster, but overall it's definitely, can be a long process.

Yeah, five months. That's, that is a long. Yeah, that's speedy by ethics committee standards. That is, it's so funny to hear you say, it only took five months. And I'm thinking, like, imagine being somebody working in that environment or witnessing that, that behavior in the workplace. That's, that's an unacceptable length of time. Are we seeing more investigations this year or are there just more stories about investigations that are popping? So those levers that you mentioned, are they taking it more seriously? Or is it just that there are so many creeps that they're breaking through? Yeah, you know, it's a good question.

I think this year it's just gotten more public and more to the surface. I think obviously with former Congressman Eric Swalwell being a candidate for governor, that I think really sort of just sparked. this new wave deluge of reports and staffers coming forward. And that's really what this process relies on. And that's another reason why it's very flawed is, you know, it relies on these young women who are not in positions of power coming forward and detailing these allegations, you know, to a, you know, authoritative body in the house.

And that takes exceptional courage and bravery no matter which party you're from or what level of a staffer you are. I do, you know, it's hard to say whether it's, there are just more members of of Congress acting inappropriately or if we're just hearing about it more. I think it might be a little bit of both, but definitely the co-chairs of this bipartisan caucus don't want to lose that momentum that have come out of the renewed attention to this. And do you know when the last time was that they kind of revamped the ethics process for lawmakers? Yeah. So it was in the Me Too, right after the Me Too era in 2018. Yeah. Yeah, there was an overhaul that required members, you know, found to, you know, have harassed staff to pay out settlements out of their own coffers and not out of taxpayer money

and did some reforms to kind of tweak the process, but it's obviously still not perfect. Now, this does kind of feel like a bit of a no-brainer. I mean, it has Kat Kamik working across the aisle? Like, that is, right? So who would be brave or stupid enough to oppose this kind of ethics reform? Yeah. So both House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose daughter is a congressional staffer, as he's pointed out to reporters and minority leader Hakeem Jeffries are both on board with the formation of this task force. And that does give it a little bit more credibility and heft. But with that setting, you know, I think the devil is going to be in the details. There are aspects of this that some members might chafe at. And then, of course, you know,

kind of stepping back, this is a case where Congress has to police itself. And there are always just an inherent conflict and tension in that. It's, you know, can be hard. Even though there's so much bipartisan agreement that there's a problem in the process and the system needs to be better, you're ultimately asking, you know, these lawmakers who are in those positions of power to, yeah, police themselves essentially. So it's going to be really interesting to see what recommendations this task force comes up with and how they received. So the last time that these reforms were made in 2018, it sounds like it finally started to hit members of Congress in the pocketbook or in the paycheck. What is in place this time around to give these reforms teeth?

Or is that TBD? It's a little bit TBD. And, you know, on, yeah, kind of this accountability question. Another thing that both, yeah, Lidja Fernandez and Kamik have said is that they want to see, you know, harsher sanctions when, for the few cases that get to the very end of the process, an example being when Congressman Chuck Edwards, the Ethics Committee found, you know, a reason to believe he had behaved inappropriately towards his young staff. All they recommended is that he be censured, which is basically like a public slap on the wrist on the House floor. And I think, yeah, I also want to see stronger penalties. You know, I will say also we've seen this year the ballot box and public

pressure. We've seen, you know, members of Congress either resign or decide not to run for reelection. But yeah, I think this question of how do you make these reforms actually stick and work is one that's on a lot of people's minds. Well, Grace, thank you for joining me. Thank you so much for having me, Erin. That was my conversation with Grace Panetta, political reporter with the 19th. Before we go, have you ever looked at Ted Cruz and wondered, how did someone so monumentally riseless. Make a career in politics. Then last week's episode of this fucking guy is for you. It's the show where I, Aaron Ryan and my pal, Alyssa Master Monaco, deep dive into the worst people in politics, business, and beyond. We cover how Ted went from smug college debater to

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