“They are compromised, exactly, that’s the word,” Burchett said. “There’s this thing they used to do — honeypots.”
“These guys go on trips, and say you’re sitting down at the bar… Whatever your interest, whatever your proclivity– they’re laughing at all your jokes. Next thing you know, you’re up in your room with ’em nekkid. Thinkin’ you pulled this off with this smoke show,” he said.
Burchett added: “I never go on trips.”
“And then, when you’re getting ready to make a key vote, a staffer or lobbyist comes up,” he continued. “Were you in a motel room in Istanbul with a pretty redhead one time?”
“We don’t want it out either; we just want your vote.”
“And after talking about that, I just caught it from leadership. ‘Everyone thinks we’re sleeping around.’ Well, I didn’t say everybody,” he continued. “But every day there’s a new one getting in trouble… Or if they’re gay, and they don’t want it out in public.”
Joe Rogan jokes: “With 435 people, you’re gonna have a few freaks in there.”
“So I said it is probably the Chinese or Russians or someone — and then, a week later, they busted a Chinese prostitution ring serving lobbyists, government employees, and politicians,” Burchett recalled. “And then that story went away.”
“They own the internet, so they know what porn you look at — in the ‘privacy of your own home.’ So that’s what they hit you with,” he said. “Mostly it’s just jobs now.”
Here’s what he said to Benny Johnson in December 2023:
REP. TIM BURCHETT: Well, let’s be honest in powerful people in this country, they write the big checks and they you know, they’re the ones out on the tarmac when the president comes and visits and whichever party they’re in, they always either out on the tarmac or in the private room. They’re the ones that write the big checks. They don’t care who’s in. They hate this country. They hate what we’re about. But they love their portfolios and they love their money more than they do anything else.
And they protect it and they protect the people that that do that. And by doing so, you know, the old honey pot — the Russians do that — and I’m sure members of Congress have been caught up. Why in the world would good conservatives vote for crazy stuff like what we’ve been seeing out of Congress? Here’s how it works. You’re visiting, you’re out of the country or out of town or you’re in a motel or at a bar in DC and, whatever you’re into – women, men, 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.
And next thing you know, you know you’re about to make a key vote. And what happens? 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, “Oh,” and [they] said, “you really ought not be voting for this thing.”
You know? And what do they do? It’s human nature. And, you know, no man or no woman actually is an island. And they know what to get at. You know, if it’s women, drugs, booze, it’ll find you. And they say, and in most elected offices, and that’s what people of power and influence do. And it’s just, you know, I’ve been in this game my whole life. I spent 16 years in the state legislature in Tennessee and eight years as county mayor. And now I’m in my fifth year Congress. But it’s just — the stakes are higher. But the game is still the same.
