Tag Archives: Representative Troy Nehls

Spying On Congress

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On Thursday, Just the News reported that the charges against the U.S. Capitol Police for illegally spying on a Congressman have been proven valid.

The article reports:

An internal investigation has confirmed Capitol Police entered Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls’ office and photographed a whiteboard containing his sensitive legislative plans, concluding the officer who took the picture exercised “questionable judgment” and the department lacked policies and training to avoid an unnecessary intrusion on lawmakers’ constitutionally protected work.

…Nehls told Just the News on Thursday night he was “a little disappointed” the internal probe did not resolve a key factual question about the officer’s claim of why he entered the congressman’s office over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

He said the failure to resolve that key question and the surfacing of other unusual facts turned up during the internal probe only heightened his fears that Capitol Police targeted him for investigation for political reasons related to his criticism of the Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee investigation.

“I personally believe that Nancy Pelosi has weaponized the U.S. Capitol Police as her own investigations unit,” Nehls said in an interview with the “Just the News, Not Noise” television show. “She goes after anybody that has dissenting point of views. I obviously have been a very vocal critic of the January 6th committee and the events of January 6.”

The Capitol Police provided a statement to Just the News that did not address the IG’s criticisms of the officer or the department but strongly insisted Nehls was never under criminal investigation and that any suggestion to the contrary only undermined the police force.

The article concludes:

The internal probe determined it was the only time the officer had ever used his department-issued smart phone to take a picture for investigative purposes, and it interviewed a supervisory sergeant who explained the department “does not investigate Members of Congress so he does not understand what” the officer “was thinking when he took the photograph of the whiteboard.”

The officer “exercised questionable judgment in concluding it was his duty or mission to read and photograph the written product of a congressman or the congressman’s staff contained on a whiteboard in a private congressional office,” the inspector general concluded.

“His actions are mitigated by the fact that in its review, OIG found no evidence of where this type of scenario was discussed or relevant guidance was provided by the Department,” the report added.

Nehls told Just the News he hoped a new Congress next year could find consensus to ensure Capitol Police have better policies and procedures to protect the privacy and work of lawmakers.

“I think that it is very incumbent upon whoever the Speaker of the House, the Sergeant at Arms are in the next Congress that we protect the limited amount of integrity that that institution has, and that is making sure that members can feel safe and secure in their offices,” he said

“This, Democrats and Republicans alike should support the idea of saying this should never happen to anybody,” Nehls added. “You cannot go in and start taking pictures of legislative materials or things that you find suspicious.”

There are a lot of indications that the swamp that is Washington, D.C., needs to be filled in and ended.

Are You Going To Believe What You See Or What I Tell You?

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Representative Troy Nehls of Texas recently charged Capitol Police of illegally entering his office, taking photos in his office and interrogating his staff. On Thursday, PJ Media reported that earlier this week, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger denied the charge, stating that one of his officers noticed that the door was open and acted responsibly to secure the office.

The article reports:

According to Manger, “The weekend before Thanksgiving, one of our vigilant officers spotted the Congressman’s door was wide open.” As such, Manger said it is the responsibility of the USCP to document the incident and secure the office.

There’s only one small problem with that Chief Manger’s claim. If you follow the link above to the article, there is a video of the door in question. The video clearly shows that the door has an automatic closing mechanism.

The article concludes:

As the video above makes clear, the door to Nehls’ congressional office suite has an automatic closer on it. Is it possible the door was propped open by Nehl or his staff? This is unlikely, as the sign on the door states it is not for public use, but for the member and his staff only. Neither Nehl nor his staff would leave this door open. Doing so might violate the local fire code, as well. Further, Manger never mentioned that the door was propped open in any way — which in itself would have been suspicious.

So, there’s definitely something fishy about Manger’s explanation.

I hope that if the Republicans gain a majority in Congress, they will investigate some of the questionable activities of the Capitol Police and the people who are charged with overseeing their actions.