GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden curses out teenage Senate pages in Capitol
Rep. Derrick Van Orden has reportedly irked his colleagues from the upper chamber after he laid into teenage Senate pages with an expletive-laced tirade as they were resting in the Capitol rotunda this week.
The Wisconsin Republican called the pages “pieces of s–t” for “defiling the space” shortly after midnight on Thursday, according to a page’s transcript of the incident, which was obtained by The Hill.
The pages are typically 16 and 17-year-olds who assist senators, often staying late into the night with them, as they did Wednesday, when the lawmakers hashed out amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, the outlet reported.
The teens were resting in their usual spot in the rotunda when Van Orden came upon them.
“Wake the f–k up, you little s–ts. … What the f–k are you all doing? Get the f‑-k out of here. You are defiling the space you [pieces of s–t],” Van Orden said, according to the page’s account, written just moments after the altercation.
“Who the f–k are you?” Van Orden asked. When one replied they were Senate pages, he said, “I don’t give a f‑-k who you are, get out.”
Rep. Derrick Van Orden is accused of cursing and yelling at a resting teen staffer. Scott Olson
“You jackasses, get out,” he added.
Van Orden was allegedly loudly partying with staff before the incident, according to Punchbowl News, which first reported on his tirade.
Reporter Max Cohen posted a photo showing bottles of booze in the pol’s office after the alleged soiree.
“How do you say you have never been to Wisconsin without saying you have never been to Wisconsin? Those were constituents, you must be a flat-lander,” Van Orden shot back in a tweet.
The Post has reached out to the congressman’s office for comment.
The incident reportedly outraged members of the upper house, and one senator told the Hill that Van Orden’s comments were “horrible.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) defended the pages on the Senate floor on Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., stand together during a meeting with visiting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, at the Capitol in Washington, on July 27, 2023. AP
“I understand that late last night, a member of the House majority thought it appropriate to curse at some of these young people — these teenagers — in the rotunda. I was shocked when I heard about it, and I am further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people,” he said.
“I can’t speak for the House of Representatives, but I do not think that one member’s disrespect is shared by this body, by [Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell} and myself,” he said.
Van Orden doubled down on his behavior, telling the Hill he felt the pages were disrespecting the historical significance of the Capitol building.
“The history of the United States Capitol Rotunda, that during the Civil War, it was used as a field hospital and countless Union soldiers died on that floor, and they died because they were fighting the Civil War to end slavery. And I think that place should be treated with a tremendous amount of respect for the dead,” he said.
“If anyone had been laying a series of graves in Arlington National Cemetery, what do you think people would say?”
Source: New York Post
