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A
House staff member started yelling about the Freemasons in the midst of
a crucial vote in Congress, Ben Jacobs reports. Like · Tweet.
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Stenographer Starts Shouting During Debt Limit Vote
A House staff member started yelling about the Freemasons in the midst of a crucial vote in Congress, Ben Jacobs reports.
A stenographer climbed the dais of the House of Representatives and started ranting in the last minutes of the House vote to end the government shutdown.
The
House stenographer, who has been identified by other outlets as Dianne
Reidy, “had kind of a crazed look” in her eyes according to Rep. Joaquin
Castro (D-TX) when she ascended the dais---just below Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) who was presiding over the House at the time---as
the minutes ticked down in the crucial vote. The microphones in the
chamber were off so that what she was saying was unintelligible on the
floor and to viewers on C-SPAN.
After Reidy was escorted out of the House chamber by several staffers from the House Sergeant at Arms office, she shouted
“He will not be mocked” referring, presumably to God. She went on to
proclaim that the United States “was not one nation under God, had it
been, the Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons. They
go against God. You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God. Lord
Jesus Christ.” Her outburst visibly disturbed a number of members and
staffers, including House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Rep.
Louie Gohmert (R-TX), both of whom ran out of the chamber after her.
Reidy was eventually hustled into an elevator by staffers.
Once
the vote concluded, both reporters and congressmen seemed more eager to
talk about this incident than the final tally. A number of members
asked reporters what exactly Reidy was saying; they couldn't quite make
out what was going on in the commotion. Reporters simply related what
they had heard outside the chamber. Some congressmen shared their
initial concerns that it was someone who had jumped down from the
gallery, not a staff member who was actually allowed to be on the floor
of the House.
There
were few things that could have distracted both journalists and
politicians on an historic night when a government shutdown ended, a
possible default and the long vaunted Hastert Rule was violated by John Boehner. This was one of them.
