🍻 In This Week's Hill Spill Newsletter: Staffers Get to Rate Their Bosses, Cory Mills Adds a DOJ Probe and Members Have Dating Problems

Welcome to this week's Hill Spill, your favorite Thirsty Thursday political newsletter! The House is gone. Several members appeared to need it more than others. But before everyone dipped, they left us plenty to work with: a new tool letting staffers anonymously review their offices, and the early feedback is saucy; two Republicans embracing the Tate brothers; Cory Mills, who closed the quarter with $81,000, a DOJ probe, an Ethics investigation and a primary in four weeks, in what we can only describe as a portfolio; Mark Sanford running again and the House weighing who members may date. Grab your drink of choice and buckle up, friends!

Exclusive: Is the congressional office you are working for a living hell? Do you want to anonymously warn others of said living hell? Def leak us those stories because we live for the tea, but also want to shout out our brilliant friends over at Capitol CNCT who launched a new feature this week where staffers can anonymously and safely sound the alarm on bad work environments or say nice things about their offices. (Everyone in Hill world should sign up for an account!) 

We could not stop watching the Dear White Staffers Instagram stories highlighting the lore of  terrible Hill offices when they first emerged. Capitol CNCT’s The Scoop offers a more formalized venue for staffers on both sides of the aisle to sound off on nightmare work culture on Capitol Hill. 

Without HR on the Hill, serious wrongdoing can easily get swept under the rug. Over here at Sources Say, we live for messy tea, anonymous venting, and calling people out on their shit almost as much as we love buying unnecessary designer shoes.

“Stories of Congressional scandal and poor leadership are all too common. Staffers are the heart and soul of Capitol Hill, yet historically there has been little transparency around what it’s actually like to work in a Congressional office,” Capitol CNCT CEO David Tennent told us.

Staffers can weigh in on everything from how the member themselves stacks up to office leadership, culture, work-life balance, pay, whether there is a clear path to promotion and whether the work actually felt meaningful. The reviews are securely verified to ensure identities are protected and the reviews are authenticated to people who worked in the offices they are praising or trashing. 

We found Rate My Professors incredibly useful in college and have perused Glassdoor in an attempt to avoid working for a**holes in the past. We love that this type of data is now available for Hill staffers, too! The feature is also a great way to anonymously flag potential ethics violations, which given some of the offices we have been covering lately feels very timely!

We had a peek at some early reviews and let’s just say things are already getting spicy!

 “Leadership is abusive. Lies about promotions and bonuses. So much drama. This place will leach at your mental health like a vampire. These people are expert manipulators. Beware. You’ll see,” one review we spotted read. No notes.

“The Scoop is CNCT’s newest resource giving staffers a way to share their experiences, highlight the best and worst management practices on the Hill, and make more informed decisions about where they work. Everything CNCT builds is intended to make Congressional staffers’ lives easier. We hope this brings greater accountability to how offices are managed and encourages better leadership across the Hill,” Tennent told us. 

David tells us that any staffer who is threatened or discouraged from using the platform can also reach out confidentially to [email protected]. Find it at connect.capitolcnct.com/scoop. We fully support popping off anonymously and are currently working on some stories on some insane congressional office goings-on.

We’re hoping to have David on the pod to dish on all of this in the near future. 

Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) posted a lengthy defense of Andrew and Tristan Tate on X this week, calling for the US government to either charge them with a crime or protect them from what he called "reckless court proceedings" in the UK and Romania.

"The Tate brothers are American citizens and so they deserve full American Constitutional protections — which means innocent until proven guilty," Hamadeh wrote, comparing their legal situation to President Trump's. "They've been deplatformed, debanked, arrested, and still no convictions — something President Trump has endured for years. Political lawfare is dangerous. The rule of law still matters and it is our responsibility to uphold the integrity of the justice system."

The timing is notable. The Tate brothers were arrested in Miami on Saturday on a UK extradition request over rape and sex trafficking charges. UK prosecutors brought dozens of new charges against them, including rape, sex trafficking and assault, relating to alleged offenses between 2010 and 2017. They also face human trafficking and organized criminal group charges in Romania. Both brothers have denied all allegations. The White House has said it will not block the extradition, with a spokesperson saying "there's no role for us to play at this moment or maybe ever in that regard."

The brothers had spent the days before their arrest touring Washington. The Daily Mail obtained a photo of the Tates posing with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) in his congressional office, reportedly taken the Tuesday before their arrest. A source in Hunt's office told the Daily Mail that Hunt "was beyond excited to meet with them." Hunt's office told us no comment.

Hamadeh, it is worth noting, is the same congressman we have been covering for his gilded office and some very uncomfortable questions about his past living arrangements. He did not address the specific allegations against the Tates in his post.

Mark Sanford is hitting the trail again — the political one, not the Appalachian one.

The former South Carolina governor jumped into the state’s special Senate primary Thursday, becoming the ninth Republican to enter a race that has filled up fast in just twelve days.

This is actually his second campaign of the year. He briefly jumped in to reclaim his old 1st District House seat this spring before dropping out on April 30 to focus on the national debt. Now he’s decided the Senate is the better stage for that fight.

The field is crowded and the race appears to be getting increasingly messy. Despite Trump’s endorsement of the late senator’s sister, operatives see real lanes for others. Interim Sen. Darline Graham Nordone — appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster and sworn in July 14 — has Trump’s full backing, White House support, a large chunk of Senate GOP leadership and Rep. William Timmons in her corner.

But early polling tells a different story: An Emerson/Nexstar poll from July 16 showed her at just 6%, with Rep. Ralph Norman leading at 16% and nearly one in five Republicans still undecided.

One South Carolina operative gave us the unvarnished read. On Nordone, they said the perception — fair or not — is that she came in as a placeholder, got to Washington, liked the job, and decided to run two days later. “The words ‘Potomac fever’ have gone around quite a bit.” Polls show her topping out around 16% even with Trump’s endorsement — probably not enough for the runoff.

On Rep. Russell Fry, the operative was brutal: “A vote for Russell Fry is a vote for Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.” That attack line is landing, and Fry’s explanation (one Myrtle Beach seat won’t flip the House) isn’t selling well. Some GOP lawmakers are openly annoyed he’s running at all, fearing it could jeopardize the majority. But he has his fair share of support and doesn't seem to be letting the haters get him down.

As for Norman, he’s got a solid ~20% floor from his past runs but “stumbles and fumbles over himself” in front of crowds. Sanford, by contrast, is “an incredibly talented retail politician” who shines with voters — though he still carries a ceiling.

The operative’s predicted runoff: Norman and Sanford.

Sanford launched with a two-minute video from the family’s Coosaw Plantation, warning that America is “borrowing from the future faster than we’re building it.”

The national debt, he said, “will crush our economy. It’ll wipe out our savings, and it could even destroy our republic.”

He has one of the stronger fiscal conservative records in the field, but his personal baggage remains — the 2009 Appalachian Trail disappearance that ended his marriage, the comeback, the 2018 loss to a Trump-backed challenger, and a brief 2020 primary run against Trump. His name also surfaced in the Olivia Nuzzi/Ryan Lizza saga, although he kind of came out looking like he held the moral high ground there.

The primary is August 11. Democrat Annie Andrews is already waiting in November.

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) is having a rough go of it lately, and it just got rougher. MS NOW first reported that two sources familiar with the matter say the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the embattled Florida congressman, with a third source telling the outlet that at least one person was contacted by the FBI last year about Mills' finances, allegations of misconduct and individuals in his orbit.

Mills called it politically motivated, pushing back in a video posted by The Floridian. "The DOJ and the FBI has never confirmed any such investigation exists. No one's actually even come forward to speak with us about it. I've never been approached by neither the DOJ or the FBI at any point in time. And if there was such an investigation, obviously I would cooperate as I have nothing to hide," he said.

He also took aim at the sourcing, noting that the reporting relied on anonymous sources who claimed not to know the details of the investigation itself. "When you wait until four weeks before a primary to try and say a source claims, and we've never been approached by either the Department of Justice or FBI, and it's four weeks out from the primary, I think that we can see that this is more about political propaganda than it is actual facts."

The DOJ probe is just the latest headache for a congressman who has become something of a one-man controversy factory. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating Mills since last November over campaign finance violations, sexual misconduct, improper gifts, financial disclosure violations and misuse of congressional resources, authorizing upwards of 20 subpoenas and contacting dozens of witnesses in the process.

The sexual misconduct allegations include accusations that he solicited sex workers on a trip to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan following the 2021 withdrawal — allegations he has denied — as well as dating violence claims that led to a restraining order being granted to a former girlfriend, which has since lapsed. Mills has also faced allegations of unpaid rent. He has denied wrongdoing across the board.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), asked about Mills this week, called him "a very productive member, great team member" and said he was focused on getting incumbents reelected.

Mills' fundraising heading into that primary is not helping his case. He closed Q2 with just $81,000 cash on hand after raising under $61,000. Mills told us the low haul was intentional, saying he planned to self-fund as he had before. Federal records complicate that claim — Mills only fully self-funded in 2022, and the Office of Congressional Conduct previously found substantial reason to believe he misrepresented the source of certain campaign loans to the FEC, an issue now folded into the Ethics probe.

His primary challenger, former Orlando news anchor Ryan Elijah, is outraising him with nearly $302,000 raised. "I am proud of our effort to outraise our Republican opponents, especially while running against an incumbent," Elijah told us.

On the Democratic side, former NASA chief of staff Bale Dalton raised more than $500,000 last quarter with over $692,000 already in the bank. The primary is August 18.

We love having former White House staffers on to spill and this week Andrew Bates stopped by the pod! The former Biden deputy press secretary breaks down why he thinks Democrats lost in 2024, fills us in on what happened after Jill Biden took aim at him over his comments on her memoir timing, thinks Hunter Biden is lowkey one of the best surrogates in the party right now and has some feelings about Kevin McCarthy weighing in on candidate vetting. Plus he's got a Thom Tillis story you are not going to want to miss. Grab a bev and tune in!

Talk over whether lawmakers should be barred from dating any congressional staffer not just their own has picked up steam in recent weeks as the House works through a run of misconduct scandals.

Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) filed a resolution this week that would force members to disclose sexual relationships with any House employee to the Ethics Committee.

Current rules only cover a member’s own staff and committee aides, everyone else is technically fair game. Crank’s plan keeps the existing ban but adds a confidential disclosure process.

“As elected officials we have unbalanced influence over House employees regardless of who they work for,” Crank said in a statement.

Opinion on the Hill is split. Some say the broader rule is necessary. Others push back noting that chiefs of staff can wield enormous power and that consensual relationships aren’t rare (see: Sen. Jack Reed marrying a Senate staffer or Texas candidate James Talarico dating his former chief).

Top Republicans are going further. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wants a full ban calling it “inappropriate as it would be in any workplace.” Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) floated the same idea. And Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) told us: “If Members focused more on their job rather than their love life we’d be better off.”

Discussion of power imbalances and workplace misconduct has intensified following the April resignations of former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) — who faced sexual assault and misconduct allegations, which he denies — and former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who admitted to an affair with a subordinate who later died by suicide. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) remains under Ethics Committee investigation over alleged harassment of two young female staffers, which he denies.

With Johnson and McClain behind the push, the changes to current policy now have traction, but it’s unclear when the resolution is expected to come to the floor.

The House has officially left for August recess and honestly, after this week, we feel like we’ve earned one of these.

We will not be printing what AMF stands for — Google it — but between the Tate brothers touring Capitol Hill right before getting arrested, Cory Mills adding another DOJ probe to his collection, and the sudden meltdown over whether members should be banned from dating staff, it felt like the only appropriate send-off.

We will miss them… sort of. Plus, we still have the Senate here for another two weeks! Mostly, we’re looking forward to seeing them out in their districts on the trail in August. If there is one thing we’ve learned, it’s that chaos does not stop just because members are out of town!

Garnish: preserved cherry (optional)

Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in all the spirits, add the sweet & sour, give it a good stir, then top it off with the soda. Stir once more, add a lemon slice if you’re trying to look civilized, and serve! See you all next week! XOXO