{"id":9219,"date":"2026-04-22T06:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/congress-struggles-with-questions-about-ethics-investigations-after-3-members-resign\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T06:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:30:10","slug":"congress-struggles-with-questions-about-ethics-investigations-after-3-members-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/congress-struggles-with-questions-about-ethics-investigations-after-3-members-resign\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress struggles with questions about ethics investigations after 3 members resign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sen.
\n

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., speaks with the press about ethics investigations at the U.S. Capitol on April 21, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Republican leaders Tuesday defended the secretive process used in that chamber to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, though they did confirm referring a complaint made against Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego to the Ethics Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, we always start very, very privately to protect members because we don\u2019t want to facilitate frivolous accusations,\u201d said Senate Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla. \u201cWe want to facilitate accurate accusations. And actually work through to be able to hold each other to account.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments came just a few hours after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would lead the effort on that side of the Capitol to improve the process for filing an ethics complaint, especially those that have to do with sexual harassment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may know this, I have two daughters who work on Capitol Hill on committee staff. (This is) very serious to me. I\u2019m a father. I\u2019m not just the speaker of the House,\u201d he said. \u201cFor that very reason we have to protect women and anyone who feels like there is any inappropriate behavior whatsoever. So if there are ways to tighten the rules, suggestions, we\u2019re seeking that from all members. We\u2019re open to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said he hoped that any votes to change House rules would be bipartisan, if not unanimously adopted. He also reflected on a long history of misconduct by members of Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always been untoward activity among political figures. I mean going back to time immemorial. There\u2019s always been marital infidelity. There\u2019s always been despicable behaviors,\u201d he said. \u201cIt occurs to us that it may not have been exposed and as transparent as it is today because of the very active press corps and 24-hour news cycle and smartphones and everything being recorded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussions around whether to keep ethics rules and investigations as they are now or overhaul the process began last week after California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales both\u00a0resigned<\/a> amid sexual misconduct allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick then\u00a0resigned<\/a> Tuesday just before the House Ethics Committee could recommend what repercussions she should face after\u00a0the panel found her guilty<\/a> on more than two dozen violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GOP accusation on social media<\/h4>\n

Swalwell\u2019s resignation may not be the end of that scandal, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wrote in\u00a0a social media post\u00a0<\/a>on April 15 that it \u201cseems like the Senate has its own trash to take out. @LeaderJohnThune You need to look into the allegations against one of your Senators, it\u2019s very disturbing. My chief will be contacting your chief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her comments apparently referred to Arizona\u2019s Gallego, who was friends with Swalwell, but has sought to distance himself from the former congressman since news of the allegations by multiple women broke earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thune said during Tuesday\u2019s press conference that \u201cspecific matter\u201d has been referred to the Senate Ethics Committee and that he didn\u2019t \u201cknow the particulars of the allegation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ethics Committee in the Senate is designed to ensure that this institution and its members conduct themselves in a way befitting of the office and that we\u2019re doing things in an ethical manner,\u201d Thune said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gallego\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018A quiet manner\u2019<\/h4>\n

Lankford said Senate Ethics Committee members are \u201cextremely serious about taking on allegations, especially allegations like sexual harassment, all the different things that are out there \u2026 But we do function in a quiet manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee, he said, gets \u201chundreds of different allegations\u201d that its members then work through to determine if they should proceed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, in the political world that we live in, a lot of allegations come to us that they\u2019re unfounded at the end of it,\u201d Lankford said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Senate Ethics Committee, he said, is unlikely to move to a model similar to that of the House Ethics Committee, which releases statements when it begins investigations into members, sometimes detailing the allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more public that comes out on it and they find out at the end of it that it becomes the theater of the allegation,\u201d Lankford said. \u201cSo it facilitates more allegations because it creates more theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate panel hasn\u2019t published a press release since August 2024 and its\u00a0two-page report<\/a> for 2025 disclosed the committee dismissed 160 of 181 alleged violations due to \u201clack of subject matter jurisdiction\u201d or because \u201cthey failed to provide sufficient facts as to any material violation of the Senate rules beyond mere allegation or assertion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The annual report adds the Senate panel issued zero \u201cprivate or public letters of admonition\u201d and had no \u201cmatters resulting in a disciplinary sanction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time the committee\u00a0issued a public letter<\/a> was in March 2023, after South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham solicited \u201ccampaign contributions in a federal building\u201d for Georgia senatorial candidate Herschel Walker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lankford later expanded during the afternoon press conference on his belief that some ethics allegations are more political than genuine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is all folks have to be heard on this but we live in a political world. In a political world if every ethics charge goes out there, everyone then grabs that ethics charge, uses it in a campaign and says \u2018There\u2019s been an ethics charge out there, the Ethics Committee is talking about it.\u2019 And suddenly it becomes drama and facilitates more things coming at us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to take seriously every victim, every accusation. But we also understand the environment that we work in.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., speaks with the press about ethics investigations at the U.S. Capitol on April 21, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl\/Getty Images) WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Republican leaders Tuesday defended the secretive process used in that chamber to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, though they did confirm referring a complaint made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCongress struggles with questions about ethics investigations after 3 members resign - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/congress-struggles-with-questions-about-ethics-investigations-after-3-members-resign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congress struggles with questions about ethics investigations after 3 members resign - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sen. 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