Massie says House Sergeant at Arms warned of $500 fine if he doesn't delete video post; Johnson says no fine will be imposed
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said in a post on X that the House Sergeant at Arms warned that he would be fined $500 if he did not delete a video post. The video features footage of lawmakers waving Ukrainian flags on the House floor.
"Instead of fining democrats for waving flags, the House Sergeant at Arms just called and said I will be fined $500 if I don't delete this video post. Mike Johnson really wants to memory hole this betrayal of America," Massie tweeted.
Blaze News attempted to obtain comment from the Office of the Sergeant at Arms, but so far, no comment has been provided.
House Speaker Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has indicated that Massie will not be fined, saying in a post, "Upon viewing Rep. Massie's tweet, our team reached out to the Sergeant at Arms. I do not agree with this assessment and there will be no fine imposed on Rep. Massie."
Last week, Massie noted that he was was cosponsoring the motion to vacate the speakership that had been filed last month by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
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On Saturday, when the House voted 311-112 in favor of passing a Ukraine aid measure, Massie was one of the 112 Republicans who voted against passage. When lawmakers waved Ukrainian flags on the House floor on Saturday, Speaker Mike Johnson admonished that flag waving on the floor was a violation of decorum.
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When Blaze News reached out to Massie, the congressman pointed to comments he made in a post on X when responding to Elon Musk Musk who had asked, "You can be fined for posting a video?"
"There’s nothing that gives them the authority to demand I remove a video from my congressional account, but they are. There is a fine in the rules for taking pictures/videos on the House floor, but they don’t know if I taped this, and democrats post from the floor frequently (example attached)," Massie wrote in response to Musk's question.
"I believe to be fined, they have to serve you notice on the floor while it’s happening (that's how I was fined for not wearing a mask). Seems a bit creepy that the Sergeant at Arms would be on my X account three days later looking for an infraction. And how would deleting the video undo my alleged infraction of filming on the House floor? (It wouldn't) The uniparty is big mad at me for exposing them on several votes and for asking the Speaker to resign. The Speaker, his staff, or one of his allies in our conference is probably directing the Sergeant at Arms to do this," the congressman added.
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