Declaring its time “to take out the trash,” Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna said there needs to be a continued reckoning through the halls of Congress, past the resignations of Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell and Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales.
“Look, I think that a lot of these members were by their own admission, guilty of breaking house ethics and our rules we conduct ourselves by,” Luna told CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede. “I know that there are a lot of accusations, obviously very horrifying accusations. And I think a criminal probe regarding Representative Swalwell, which I will continue to send any information I get to the authorities. But this type of behavior can’t be tolerated. I don’t think that they’re the only ones. As you know, there’s an $18 million Congressional slush fund that’s been paid out since the 90s. So obviously, there’s a huge issue with that here on Capitol Hill. The more we find out about it, the more we’re just going to say it’s time to take out the trash.”
“I think that basic human dignity and upholding the law is pretty much a no-brainer,” she continued. “I think we have to have a zero tolerance when we find out about it, if there’s evidence, we have to expel.”
Luna said she expects Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to be the next member who either resigns or gets expelled.
“Look, if there’s evidence for wrongdoing, breaking the law, breaking house conduct, or engaging in illegal activity, then that person needs to go,” she said. “I frankly don’t care about the party affiliation. These are all adults here. They make their decisions, and I’m not going to be expected to vote to cover for them. I don’t work for these people’s offices. So, for me, I frankly don’t like being associated with people, for example, like in Sheila’s case, that’s steal $5 million in FEMA funds. We are not the same. And so for them to come up here and to have all of this mess happening, it just simply is a distraction from the work that we’re all here to do. And I frankly am ready to get back to the work of the American people and so the sooner that we can get that type of behavior gone the better.”
