WASHINGTON — Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) is calling for all congressional staff to undergo background checks and dishing on growing foreign influence campaigns that she describes as “the worst kept secret on Capitol Hill.”
Cammack has introduced a resolution that would also mandate disclosure of staffers’ nationalities as well as any payments by foreign governments to current or new Capitol hill Hires.
The proposal comes after reports emerged last month that the FBI has been investigating a senior GOP aide for allegedly acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Qatar, as well as revelations that spies for Cuba and China have been working in members’ offices.
In an interview Tuesday, Cammack told The Post that her fellow Floridians — Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz — are just two of the members who have been subject to foreign influence campaigns.
Over the past decade, Diaz-Balart has been targeted by Qatar over his support for a bill designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization — and also discovered Cuban spies working to gain the trust of his staff and even place an informant in his office.
“Foreign interference and spying in congressional offices is absolutely a real thing and an ongoing threat,” said Diaz-Balart’s chief of staff, Cesar Gonzalez.
“We know it first-hand. The Cuban regime has attempted multiple times to infiltrate both the office of Congressman Diaz-Balart [and] his brother [Lincoln Diaz-Balart] when he was a member of Congress [from 1993 to 2011].”
Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, caught a member of her staff who was found later to be taking cash from a foreign government “stealing different files,” according to Cammack, who revealed that the Justice Department will soon release a report cataloging “the issues with staff being placed that are actually foreign agents.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) similarly claimed on social media last week that “disturbing declassified files will be coming out in the coming weeks about a Former Member Of Congress placing interns in other offices that happen to be agents of foreign governments.”
In other cases, a longtime aide to Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) was fired in 2022 for seeking to facilitate meetings between congressional offices and the Chinese embassy, while disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) was also the target of an influence campaign by Beijing.
“It’s a total free-for-all on Capitol Hill,” Cammack said. “Our adversaries not only know that, but they take advantage of it.”
The lawmaker said that House Republican leadership has informed her the bill needs 100 co-sponsors to reach the floor for a vote, but noted that other measures have been considered with less support.
“For a number of different reasons, I am hearing that leadership doesn’t want this to go through, and I think honestly it’s because they’re more worried about what they’re gonna find,” she claimed.
“On top of that, with all the sexual misconduct that has come to the surface, we’re seeing where there is bad behavior taking place amongst staff.”
The Post last week revealed that Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) engaged in sexual relationships with two House staffers for Texas Democrats during his time in the lower chamber, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to back a proposal banning romantic entanglements between lawmakers and staff.
“In the case of Gallego, him having relationships with staff, I think speaks to a bigger problem that we have when it comes to sexual misconduct, which is the power-dynamic imbalance,” Cammack said.
“I personally believe that it is inappropriate for any member to be having relationships with congressional staff regardless of whose office that they’re in.”
Gallego has called the report on his dalliances “gossip,” but not denied the affairs.
Congressional offices can currently opt to submit employees to background checks, but there’s no rule forcing it. Nor are there any rules stipulating financial disclosures or foreign ties — an issue that has galvanized both Republicans and Democrats.
Similarly, the Senate has no mandatory policy for background checks.
Under Cammack’s resolution, the House sergeant-at-arms would conduct the background checks for $750 per staffer.
The total cost of $9 million to scrutinize all 12,000 congressional aides if implemented would be a small price to pay “for national security purposes, for peace of mind,” she said.
“Every member who I’ve spoken to about this, minus leadership, has said that they are 100% in favor of this,” added Cammack, “but at the end of the day, the Rules Committee, they work at the behest of leadership.”
Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
