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DC lawmaker caught on video threatening ex-staffer: ‘I’ll end every relationship you have!’

December 1, 2023 | | Print Article

It would be difficult to argue against the notion that Congress is failing in its efforts to govern this nation so it’s a bit of a wonder that we expect members to be able to govern their affairs any better.

Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) was caught on tape verbally abusing her staff, and now there is a report involving a member from across the aisle threatening a former staffer.

U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) was caught on camera aggressively threatening a man identified in the captions as his former campaign manager. The startled former staffer denied having done anything as Williams jabbed a finger in his face.

“You f*ck with my family, I’ll end every relationship you have. Every single friend! Do you understand me?” the lawmaker can be heard saying.

Visibly shaken, the man tried to protest by saying, “I don’t know what you’re–”

But Williams was having none of it, screaming: “Do you understand me?! You think I don’t know?!”

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When a woman off-camera intervened, the first-term lawmaker turned to her and said, “Hey, why don’t you get the police in.”

Realizing that he was being recorded by another former staffer, Williams appeared to make a grab for the device being used to capture his actions as the video cuts.

Williams told the news outlet Semafor afterward that the man he confronted said “incredibly vile things” about his wife and daughter.

”There are some things that have been said and I went up and said that’s not okay,” he said, before claiming one of the two staffers “put his hands on me, and put his chest against me.”

“I haven’t said anything about his family,” the ex-staffer told Semafor, asking that his name be withheld to avoid involving his current employer.

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He said Williams had confronted him over rumors he was unfamiliar with.

The congressman’s wife, Stephanie Williams, said she felt “violated” by the ordeal, according to Semafor, explaining that one of the former staffers had previously lived in their home for more than five months.

“I fed him, we welcomed him in our home, we worshiped with him,” she explained. “I mean, I am overwhelmed with grief.”

Williams spokesman Taylor Weyeneth tweeted out a statement on the confrontation.

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“What you are seeing is two former staffers who were fired by the Congressman earlier this year,” he wrote. “Both individuals, the one being confronted by the Congressman and the one filming, made rude comments about the female members of the Congressman’s family. These individuals planted stories with the media and one of them physically shoved the Congressman at a holiday event (edited from the video).”

“As a former nuclear submarine officer known for his temperament and poise, tonight should be a lesson to all, never go after this Navy Nuke’s family,” he added.

Here’s a sampling of a few responses to the story, as seen on X:

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Tom Tillison
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