“There’s tapes out on you”: Republican claims “good conservatives” being blackmailed with sex tapes

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., leveled unsubstantiated allegations on Thursday, claiming that his Republican colleagues in Congress are being blackmailed into voting for “crazy stuff” with threats of illicitly recorded sex tapes of them being released. 

During an appearance on exposed plagiarist Benny Johnson’s podcast, Burchett elaborated on why he believes “good conservatives vote for crazy stuff like what we’ve been seeing out of Congress,” according to The Daily Beast. He began to break down his claim, saying that the schemes are executed by “powerful people” who “write the big checks.”

“You’re visiting — you’re out of the country or out of town or you’re in a motel or at a bar in D.C. — and whatever you’re into — women or men or whatever — comes up and they’re very attractive, and they’re laughing at your jokes. And you’re buying them a drink. Next thing you know, you’re in the motel room with them naked,” Burchett began.

Then, the Tennessee Republican continued, after some time, the hypothetical lawmaker finds themselves about to make a “key vote” on Capitol Hill.

“And what happens?” Burchett said. “Some well-dressed person comes out and whispers in your ear, ‘Hey, man, there’s tapes out on you.’ Or, ‘Were you in a motel room or whatever with whoever?’ And then you’re like, ‘Uh-oh.’ And they say, ‘You really ought not to be voting for this thing.’

“And, you know, what do they do? It’s human nature,” Burchett added. “No man or no woman actually is an island, and they know what to get at. If it’s women, drugs, booze, it’ll find you in D.C. and in most elected offices.”

It’s unclear whether Burchett was making the claims based on firsthand knowledge of a situation like what he described occurring, or if it was simply speculation. He did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. 

Earlier this week, Burchett also called some of his colleagues “compromised” amid his and Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s, R-Tenn., attempts to obtain the flight logs of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019. 

The names of dozens of Epstein’s associates will be revealed in early January as ordered by a Manhattan federal judge this week.