The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Rep. Hal Rogers do not need to pay fines for evading metal detectors outside the chamber.
PELOSI: CLYBURN ‘CAN APPEAL’ METAL DETECTOR FINE
Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-highest Democrat in the House, and Rogers, a Kentucky Republican who has been in the House since 1981, were hit with the metal detector violations mandated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meant as a security measure after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Lawmakers are fined $5,000 for violating the security screening and $10,000 for any subsequent penalty.
Clyburn reportedly avoided walking through the metal detectors after using the men’s room, located next to Speaker’s Lobby parallel to the House floor, during a vote on April 20. Rogers was fined days earlier for violating metal detector security protocols on April 14.
The Ethics Committee is the only House panel that is evenly divided with five Republicans and five Democrats. The panel previously denied metal detector violation appeals from two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Louie Gohmert of Texas.
Clyburn’s situation is similar to Gohmert, who said he walked to the House floor through a metal detector from one entrance and exited the floor briefly to use the same Speaker’s Lobby restroom.
When Gohmert returned to the floor, a Capitol Police officer tried to wand him with a security device, as the metal detectors were not installed at the entrances of the Speaker’s Lobby at that time.
Capitol Police also fined Gohmert $5,000 for not submitting to a security check before going to the floor again. The Ethics Committee rejected both the Texas Republican’s appeal and Clyde’s appeal, who was fined $15,000 in metal detector fines.
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Clyde announced in late April he is preparing a lawsuit to fight the metal detector fines he received after news that Clyburn was issued his metal detector penalty.
