Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) made unsubstantiated claims Thursday that his Republican colleagues in Congress are being blackmailed into voting for “crazy stuff” due to the threat of illicitly recorded sex tapes of them being released.
Appearing on habitual plagiarist Benny Johnson’s podcast, Burchett explained why he believes “good conservatives vote for crazy stuff like what we’ve been seeing out of Congress.”
“Here’s how it works,” he began, after saying that these schemes are carried out by “powerful people” who “write the big checks.”
“You’re visiting—you’re out of the country or out of town or you’re in a motel or at a bar in D.C.—and whatever you’re into—women or men or 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,” he said.
Fast-forward to right before a “key vote” on Capitol Hill.
“And what happens?” Burchett continued. “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, ‘Uh-oh.’ And they say, ‘You really ought not be voting for this thing.’”
It’s unclear whether Burchett has firsthand knowledge of something like this happening, or if he was simply speculating. He did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
Earlier this week, Burchett similarly called some of his colleagues “compromised” amid his and Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) efforts to get a hold of the flight logs of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019.
The identities of dozens of those close to Epstein will be revealed in early January, a Manhattan federal judge ruled this week.