US Capitol police crack down on staffers’ cellphone use after man arrested for secretly taping Republican senators while lunching on Capitol Hill
- Capitol workers must now check their cellphones before entering unofficial senators’ lunches
- NBC News reported Wednesday that the change came after a contractor was arrested and charged with recording the Republican rally in early March.
- The unidentified man from Maryland left his phone during lunch and claimed to be the wife of Liberia’s vice president
Capitol workers are now required to check their cellphones before entering unofficial senators’ lunches after a contractor was arrested for recording the Republican rally in early March.
NBC News reported on Wednesday that US Capitol police arrested and charged a 25-year-old man from Maryland with “intercepting/using wiretaps” – a charge that was later dismissed.
The man worked for At Your Service, which provides lunches to Senate employees as a contractor to Restaurant Associates, which handles food services on the Senate side of the Capitol.
The employee told Capitol Police that he recorded the March 7 meeting “for several hours.”
He also said he was married to the Vice President of Liberia and “wanted to provide his ‘wife’ the Vice President of Liberia with American political information”.
Security has been tightened at the United States Capitol, with Senate staffers now required to leave their cellphones in a cabinet before entering weekly Senate lunches.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team go to a press conference after their weekly lunch. A contractor was arrested and charged earlier this month after leaving his mobile phone while having lunch in check-in mode
NBC found no record that this employee was married to Liberia’s vice president, and the Liberian embassy did not immediately respond to the network’s request for comment.
The senators were not pleased with the revelation.
“It’s really concerning,” Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, told NBC. “These conversations are an opportunity for senators to speak candidly about issues. So having people recorded and easily identifiable by voice is problematic.
The employee had set his phone to record and then left it in the room for several hours, according to court documents. He then returned to the bedroom with a police escort, but the phone had been removed.
A senator had spotted the device and turned it over to Capitol police, NBC reported.
“He was a temporary person hired by the restaurant people. The phone was left in registration mode found in the food queue,’ Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso told the network. “It’s very concerning.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune described it to NBC as “kind of a one-time thing.”
“The question I was wondering was, has anyone set it up? And to my knowledge, the answer is no,” Thune said.
To avoid future mishap, a large wardrobe now stands outside the Lyndon Baines Johnson, where the Republican Luncheon takes place, for staff members to check their cell phones before entering the room.
The phone box won’t prevent another problem – while the contents of the weekly luncheons are meant to be kept private, they are frequently leaked to the press.
