Following the riot at the Capitol building in January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had metal detectors installed outside of the House chamber and threatened any member who avoided them with a $5,000 fine.
While Pelosi appears happy to make rules, she doesn’t seem to be as eager to follow them. Now, one congressman is calling her out.
On Friday, Politico reporter Olivia Beavers tweeted out newly released video footage from February that appears to show Pelosi and House Majority Whip James Clyburn walking past the metal detectors.
Pelosi not fined
Clyburn was fined $5,000 for bypassing the detectors, and according to the Washington Examiner, one source said he was “shell-shocked that anybody had the audacity to file a complaint against him.”
The congressman appealed the fine to the House Ethics Committee, telling CNN, “It’s just somebody on the other side trying to cause mischief.”
Meanwhile, Pelosi managed to escape any fines, with her spokesperson claiming she had been been checked with a handheld metal detection wand.
With the recently released footage, however, it appears Pelosi might not have followed her own protocols.
Republican congressman trolls Pelosi
This latest controversy led Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) to put out a statement in which he sarcastically invited Pelosi and Clyburn to join his lawsuit challenging the metal detector rule, the Washington Examiner reported.
“Today I was alerted to the news that two of my Democratic colleagues, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, were revealed to have bypassed security screening while entering the House Floor,” Clyde said.
“As my colleagues know, I was fined $15,000 in February for a so-called violation of the House’s unconstitutional H. Res. 73 and my appeal was denied by the House Committee on Ethics earlier this month,” he went on.
“Members of Congress take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and I would like to be the first to invite Speaker Pelosi and Whip Clyburn to join my lawsuit to fight this egregious and unconstitutional House rule in federal court,” Clyde said.
The Republican congressman first announced his intention to challenge the rule in February, tweeting, “I am appealing Speaker Pelosi’s ridiculous, unconstitutional metal detector fines. Placing metal detectors at the entrance to the House Floor is yet another Democratic Party attempt to demonize Republicans.”
The post Republican Rep. Clyde invites Pelosi, Clyburn to join lawsuit against House metal detectors first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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