Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) reportedly slammed a group of high school-aged Senate pages during a late-night tour this week of the U.S. Capitol.
In response to condemnation from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Van Orden defended his comments and slammed the Democrat, saying he should “think twice before throwing stones in glass houses.”
The former U.S. Navy SEAL was giving a tour to a large group of visitors during the early morning hours on Thursday when he stumbled upon the pages laying on the ground of the Capitol Rotunda taking pictures of the building’s dome.
“Wake the f*** up you little s***s,” Van Orden said, according to a transcript created by one of the pages shortly after the incident occurred. “What the f*** are you all doing? Get the f*** out of here. You are defiling the space you [pieces of s***].”
“Who the f*** are you?” Van Orden reportedly asked, and one individual said they were Senate pages. “I don’t give a f*** who you are, get out. You jacka**es, get out.”
Van Orden’s remarks angered Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who both condemned Van Orden.
“I was shocked when I heard about it, and I am further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people,” Schumer 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 Leader McConnell and myself.”
A Van Orden spokesperson responded to the condemnation, telling Fox News, “Chuck Schumer should think twice before throwing stones in glass houses.”
“Chuck Schumer is a lifelong political hack who never resists an opportunity to insert himself in front of a camera. When will Schumer hold his own party to the same standard?” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Jack Pandol also told Fox News.
Van Orden refused to apologize over the incident and instead doubled down in subsequent media interviews, where he explained why the pages’ actions infuriated him.
“The Capitol Rotunda served as a field hospital where countless Union soldiers died fighting to free men in the Civil War,” Van Orden said in the statement. “I have long said our nation’s Capitol is a symbol of the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for this country and should never be treated like a frat house common room. Threatening a congressman with bad press to excuse poor behavior is a reminder of everything that’s wrong with Washington. Luckily, bad press has never bothered me and if it’s the price I pay to stand up for what’s right, then so be it.”
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Van Orden infuriated the political Left back in 2021 when he allegedly went into a library and “complained loudly about a display of fiction and nonfiction books about homosexuality in the children’s section” during Pride Month, according to the Associated Press.
He reportedly said in a complaint to the library that the books were propaganda designed to skew “young people to think Republicans are not inclusive.”
The report said that he ended up checking out every book from the display so that there were no books left for people to see.