In an eyebrow-raising interview, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett claimed that “good conservative” lawmakers are being blackmailed into voting for “crazy stuff” in Congress.
The Tennessee Republican made the wild remarks while speaking with podcast host Benny Johnson amid a discussion of the soon-to-be-released list of names associated with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Burchett suggested it is the “powerful people” who “write the checks” and entrap lawmakers in “honeypot” schemes.
“Why in the world would good conservatives vote for crazy stuff like what we’ve been seeing out of Congress?” he said in the Thursday interview. “Here’s how it works.”
“You’re visiting, you’re out of the country or out of town or you’re in a motel or at a bar in DC and, whatever you’re into – women, men, whatever — comes up and they’re very attractive and they’re laughing at your jokes. And you’re buying them a drink. Next thing you know, you’re in the motel room with them naked,” Burchett said.
“And next thing you know, you know you’re about to make a key vote. And what happens? Some well-dressed person comes out and whispers in your ear, ‘Hey, man, there’s tapes out on you,’ or, ‘Were you in a motel room or whatever with whoever?’ And then you’re like, ‘Oh,’ and [they] said, ‘You really ought not be voting for this thing,’” he went on.
“And, you know, no man or no woman actually is an island. And they know what to get at. You know, if it’s women, drugs, booze, it’ll find you,” the lawmaker added.
“I’ve been in this game my whole life. I spent 16 years in the state legislature in Tennessee and eight years as county mayor. And now I’m in my fifth year in Congress. But it’s just — the stakes are higher. But the game is still the same,” he told Johnson.
Earlier this week, Burchett suggested Senate Democrats are “compromised” so they have effectively “snubbed” an attempt by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) to subpoena Epstein’s private jet flight logs.
Everyone wants the flight logs of Jeffrey Epstein. That could be a distraction. I want the client list.
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) December 20, 2023
“Too many of my colleagues, I’m afraid, are compromised in this area,” Burchett said on Newsmax. “For whatever reason, somebody’s whispered in their ear, said, ‘Hey, you don’t want something to come out on something else. You better keep your mouth shut on this.’”
This is bogus. We want the client list seized from his New York apartment. https://t.co/NedQgXFYrz
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) December 21, 2023
“And it continues to go. Whether it’s the honeypot the Russians used to use or something worse. I don’t know, but … you see that up and down the line. You see good conservatives vote for liberal policies and, frankly, you see some liberals occasionally will vote for something else,” Burchett said on “The Chris Salcedo Show” on Newsmax.
“So obviously, the Congress has been compromised and this continues on through the White House, through the Justice Department,” he added. “The trash can is very deep. It’s not a swamp, it’s an open sewer.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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