Dem 'Squad Members' Facing Ethics Complaints Involving TikTok and Abuse of Official Resources

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

There are all kinds of security risks being raised about the use of TikTok because of potential control and spying by the Chinese.

In December, the House ordered lawmakers and their staffs to delete TikTok from any House-issued phones because of potential “security risks.” Then, Joe Biden signed a Republican-backed bill banning the use of TikTok on any government-issued devices.

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But not only are Democratic lawmakers engaged in posting TikTok videos, throwing that caution to the wind, but they’re also violating the rules of Congress in the process.

Members of Congress are required to have “strict separation” between their campaign and official duties. They can’t use official social media accounts for campaign or political purposes. They cannot engage in political activities or campaigns in their congressional offices or any part of the Capitol building, and they can’t take photos or videos from the building for campaign purposes.

But some Democrats seem to be throwing all those rules under the table in the interests of making themselves ‘TikTok’ famous and advancing political campaigns.

Freshman Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-NC) has gained 1.6 million followers by posting videos about the inner workings of Congress. But he’s doing it from the same account that promotes his political campaign. Jackson has posted 15 videos that average 4.2 million views each and he’s used images from the House floor in at least six of those videos, violating longstanding ethics rules says the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) which has filed a complaint against him with the Office of Congressional Ethics.

They’ve also filed similar actions against “Squad members,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) for similar actions.

FACT explained that Bowman violated the rules by recording TikTok videos from inside the US Capitol building and in his congressional office, as well as posting a message calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from his official account — another alleged ethics violation.

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Omar was the first one hit with an ethics complaint.

The FACT complaint states that Omar uses TikTok to make “overtly political posts, including a video of her urging viewers to support Democrat candidates, a message to Democrats volunteering for campaigns, and several videos of her campaigning and attending campaign events.”

“Along with this political content, she has also made posts that used official government resources, including C-SPAN footage from the House floor, what appears to be a cell phone video recorded on the House floor, and an interview from what appears to be in her House office,” added the complaint, addressed to chief House ethics counsel Omar Ashmawy.

These Democrats don’t appear to care about the ethics rules nor do they seem concerned about posting on TikTok, they only seem to be interested in promoting themselves. Jackson claimed he only used it from a “secure device” but Bowman railed against any criticism of the use of TikTok, calling it “racism” and “xenophobia.”

Here he is claiming “Republicans ain’t got no swag” because they’re upset about the Chinese influence.

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He also made clear that he thought they shouldn’t shut it down because he thought it gave Democrats an advantage with younger people.

Pro tip? When you’re on the side of trying to defend Chinese influence and potential spyware, and you’re allegedly violating House ethics rules into the bargain, you’re on the wrong side of the issue. That’s not “swag,” that’s just idiotic. Bragging about “swag” when you should be concerned about national security is not a good look. Many also commented on what looked like the professionally-made signs defending TikTok and wondered where those came from and who was behind them.

But all Democrats are concerned about is how it helps advance them and maintain control.

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