🍻 In This Week's Hill Spill: We Come Bearing Scoops! A Congressman's Questionable Living Arrangement, Plus Trump Blowing Up the Senate GOP Lunch and the Most Interesting Man at the Reflecting Pool

SCOOP: GOP Rep. Abe Hamadeh's (Ariz.) social media showcasing dramatic photoshoots with his staff and interns and tours of his ornately decorated office drew eyeballs and puzzled reactions from colleagues on the Hill.

But behind the facade of gilded decorations, individuals close to the office described what they characterized as a "toxic" work environment and an allegedly atypically close relationship between the congressman and one of his former staffers, who now runs his campaign.

The staffer in question is Will Hannen, Hamadeh's former senior adviser, who now works on his campaign. Two sources close to the office described the relationship as closer than a typical member-staffer dynamic.

In May 2025, Hamadeh missed a floor vote that coincided with a trip to California he had taken with Hannen. Staff was unable to reach him that day, two sources told us, though Hamadeh's office pushed back, saying staff was in fact reachable and that the congressman was "handling the imminent death of a lifelong friend."

Hamadeh's office denied any romantic relationship.

"The Congressman and Mr. Hannen have been ONLY good friends for years, and at times have been roommates," spokeswoman Lori Hunnicutt told us, adding that our sources were "disgruntled" former staff and warning of legal action if we proceeded "with a reckless disregard for the truth." Hannen did not respond to a request for comment.

Living with a staffer is not an explicit House Ethics violation if the member is paying fair market rent and no romantic relationship exists.

Three lawmakers told us they would never consider it regardless, noting it creates optics issues.

"I have common sense," one GOP member said.

"What in the actual F***. There is something wrong with that office,” another Republican lawmaker told us. “If he was living with and or sleeping with his staffer he needs to be tossed out. That's not okay.”

Sources also described a broader pattern of favoritism, with some staff allegedly able to "get away with murder" while others were held to an impossible standard, and multiple individuals said Hamadeh called staffers "stupid" in front of colleagues.

One lawmaker, eyeing the office makeover video that made its way around Capitol Hill group texts, had a reference point: "Do you remember Aaron Schock?"

"New rule: just don't live with your staff or bang them,” a fourth member told us.

The allegations come as Capitol Hill faces growing scrutiny over member conduct with staff, with a Bipartisan Task Force on Workplace Sexual Misconduct launched in May.

Read the full scoop here! It’s a wild one!

Senate Republican’s lunch with President Trump went off the rails on Wednesday.

Before the president even even walked into the room, he had already blown up what was supposed to be a good day for Senate Republicans, declining to sign a bipartisan housing bill that GOP members had been looking to tout as an election-year win.

The fireworks inside the lunch started when Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — who has little left to lose after Trump backed a primary challenger who beat him last month — confronted the president directly over the Iran war, telling him that he had not kept the American people informed about a conflict that was supposed to last four weeks and has now dragged on for four months.

Trump, per sources in the room, did not take it well.

"Cassidy got in a shouting match with him," one senator told us. Trump repeatedly told Cassidy to sit down and at one point called him a "lunatic," according to two other sources. Cassidy did not dispute it.

Cassidy acknowledged losing his temper afterward, telling reporters it was "not appropriate" but that he "matched his tone and volume" before eventually sitting down. "The president just kind of talked and talked and talked and talked and talked," he said.

Cassidy was not the only one in to be caught in Trump's crosshairs. Sources tell us Trump also took aim at Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) over the war powers vote — notable given that McCormick missed the vote because he was at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. One senator tells us Trump made "tough comments" about his absence regardless.

Within hours, Cassidy was invited to the White House for a briefing with Vice President JD Vance and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff on Iran. He returned to the Capitol that night and voted against a similar war powers resolution, which Republicans blocked.

"I want to thank Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witkoff for the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran," Cassidy posted on X afterward.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who lost his own primary to a Trump-backed challenger just weeks after Cassidy, offered a very dry possible summary of the afternoon to reporters.

"That was quite a unity message," he told CNN, adding: "The president closed by preaching unity, but he spent the entire hour talking about things which were not exactly unified." Asked if he was being sarcastic, Cornyn stepped into an elevator and let the doors close.

Wednesday marked the second time in recent weeks the president had dropped a bomb on Senate Republican leadership's plans, coming on the heels of Trump torching their effort to fast-track Jay Clayton as DNI the week prior.

There has been a lot of chatter surrounding the reflecting pool renovations gone wrong… the vandalism allegations, the no-bid contract questions, the pool turning green with algae less than 24 hours after completion, the $16 million price tag. We are not here to get into all of that today.

Look, we over here at Sources Say like the reflecting pool enough and enjoy looking at it when we're in the area, but that isn't really what we are that concerned about. What is living in our heads rent free is this look.

It's giving Gomez Addams meets mobster and we are both confused and intrigued.

Yes, he may have pleaded guilty twice — once to conspiracy to bribe a congressman and once to campaign finance violations. Yes, the congressman he bribed was James Traficant, the legendarily unhinged Ohio lawmaker expelled from Congress in 2002 after being convicted on ten counts of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion, who also famously wore what can only be described as a war crime on his head. Yes, his company landed a $1.74 million no-bid contract to install a water filtration system at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the pool turned green. We aren't that worried about it.

But can we please talk about the fits? Criminal history, green pools and felony guilty pleas aside, this man's aesthetic is something we have been thinking about early and often since we first stumbled upon this and we borderline respect it albeit would not recommend others try and replicate this lewk.

Sir, if you somehow end up reading this, please come on our podcast so we can discuss where one even buys a suit that looks like that… We need to know.

This week on the pod we have Mark Moran, Wall Street banker, FBoy Island alum and the man who decided the best use of his time was primarying one of the wealthiest senators in the country. He joined us to talk about why he dropped out of the Virginia Senate race against Mark Warner, the guy who he alleges may have forged signatures on his petitions, why politics is essentially just a reality TV show with worse production value, and why he thinks an independent political revolution is coming whether Washington wants it or not. He also weighed in on Graham Platner, Spencer Pratt's unhinged campaign and made the bold claim that American Idol Season 3 is the most accurate representation of the current American political climate. Honestly? We kind of see it. Grab a drink or multiple and tune in!

Tuesday's Democratic primary for New York's 12th Congressional District had everything — a Kennedy, Kellyanne Conway's ex-husband, a tech money war and an eight-candidate pile-up for a seat held by Jerry Nadler for more than 30 years. It did not produce the outcomes either Jack Schlossberg or George Conway were hoping for.

State Assemblyman Micah Lasher won with 39%, followed by fellow Assemblyman Alex Bores at 35%, Schlossberg at roughly 11% and nonprofit executive Nina Schwalbe at 7%. Conway, the Lincoln Project co-founder who launched his campaign on the fifth anniversary of January 6th, drew roughly 6% and finished fifth. His campaign spent $5.7 million, which works out to approximately $850 a vote. Trump called him "a Trump Deranged Loser" on Truth Social.

Schlossberg, the 33-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy, came in with instant name recognition, a Nancy Pelosi endorsement and a social media following. Voters were not overwhelmed. Before the race was called he told supporters "unless Democrats learn from the signals that are being sent all across the country, we are going to keep on losing." About an hour later, those same supporters let out a collective groan when Lasher's win was announced.

The result is the latest reminder that political dynasties have had a rough go of it in recent years. The Cheneys, the Bushes, the Kennedys have all found that name recognition and family legacy aren’t taking them as far at the ballot box.

NY-12 was not the only storyline in the Empire State — Mamdani-backed progressive candidates swept three other New York congressional races, with Brad Lander ousting two-term Rep. Dan Goldman in the 10th District, democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier unseating five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the 13th District and Claire Valdez winning the open 7th District.

Republicans could barely contain their excitement during this week’s House GOP conference meeting.

"All good news. Polling better and Dems keep nominating people who hate America," one GOP lawmaker told us.

Per a source in the room, Speaker Johnson invoked the results at Wednesday morning's meeting, saying Democrats are being run by socialists like Mamdani and calling on members to step up to "save the republic."

Another member told us: "The Republican Conference today called what happened in NYC last night the Dems' Bolshevik Revolution."

We’ll see how everything pans out in November.

Between the chaos at the Senate GOP steering lunch and Tuesday night's New York primaries, we felt the Long Island Iced Tea was the only appropriate choice this week. It's strong, it's a little unhinged and while progressives are popping bottles we're guessing there are some moderate Dems and GOP lawmakers that would like to forget about some things that went down this week.

Load a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the vodka, rum, gin, tequila, triple sec and sour mix and give it a good shake. Pour into a tall glass over fresh ice and finish with a splash of cola. Cheers until next week!