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Payments to fired Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton to be garnished
Taxpayers will be partially reimbursed for the alleged waste of money by former Architect of the U.S. Capitol Brett Blanton, according to the acting architect of the Capitol.
Congressional administrators are withholding $12,516 from the final annual payments due to Blanton, who was fired by President Biden in February, amid controversy over his personal use of a taxpayer-funded vehicle and questions about his adherence to agency policies.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
In a letter to the Senate Budget Committee, the acting architect of the Capitol confirmed some of Blanton’s final pay would be withheld. The letter said that “all Architect of the Capitol employees must be accountable and comply with agency policies.”
An internal review in October 2022 by the inspector general for the architect of the Capitol found “Blanton abused his authority and squandered taxpayer money, including by allowing his family to use his government-owned SUVs, and driving the vehicles on family vacations to South Carolina, West Virginia and Florida, and a trip to a craft brewery.
The inspector general’s report also alleged Blanton allowed his wife and daughter to drive his government-issued car, including one instance in which his daughter was accused of driving recklessly. The report said Blanton’s daughter “had transported both her friends and boyfriend in the vehicle and referred to using the [Architect of the Capitol]’s fuel as ‘free gas.'”
In another instance, the report said Blanton claimed to be a law enforcement agent, and after a traffic accident, “when the driver inquired about Blanton’s insurance information, Blanton told him it was a government vehicle and that he was an ‘agent,'” said the report.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said Blanton’s treatment of his office vehicles was a “blatant misuse of government property.” In a Senate floor speech, Grassley quoted an excerpt of the office’s internal review, arguing Blanton “violated every pillar the Office of Inspector General operates under including theft, fraud, waste and abuse against not only the architect of the Capitol, but also the taxpayer.”
Blanton was also sharply criticized by Democrats at a hearing in early 2023 for failing to travel to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to respond to the damage from the riotous violence of the Capitol Insurrection. During the hearing, Rep. Norma Torres, Democrat of California, told Blanton, “I am outraged that you would be in a comfortable place, sir, while the rest of us were thinking about dying that day and how we were going to come out alive that day.”
An acting architect of the Capitol has been named to temporarily succeed Blanton. Senate sources told CBS News there are proposals for legislation this year to give Congress the ability to oust the architect of the Capitol, who is appointed by the U.S. president. Blanton was appointed by then-President Donald Trump.
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Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed during Tuesday night’s presidential debate that Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, supports the “execution” of babies after they are born, repeating earlier false assertions that Democrats support killing babies.
The Republican nominee made the claim when ABC moderator Linsey Davis asked why he changed his position to support Florida’s six-week abortion ban.
“Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth — it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born — is OK,” Trump said.
Infanticide is illegal in every state, and Harris and Walz have never supported it. Here’s what we know about the claim and where Harris and Walz stand on abortion.
A history of false claims
Trump has a history of falsely claiming that Democrats support killing babies after birth. At a recent rally in Charlotte, Trump said Harris supports abortion “right up until birth, and even after birth.”
During the debate, Trump repeated a similar claim and referenced, at different points, the “former governor of Virginia” and the “former governor of West Virginia,” who, Trump asserted, “said we put the baby aside and then we determine what we want to do with the baby.”
Trump appeared to be talking about former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat and a physician, who gave a 2019 radio interview in which he discussed a hypothetical scenario in which a fetus has severe deformities or is not viable outside the womb. In such a case, Northam said, “the infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired.”
The comments sparked fierce backlash from Republicans, including then-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, who accused Northam of supporting “born-alive abortions.” In response, Northam said, “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”
Walz and Harris on abortion
Vice President Harris has supported restoring the standards of Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to an abortion until the fetus reaches viability outside the womb, typically at around six months of gestation. The Biden-Harris administration endorsed the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022, which would have prevented states from banning abortions before viability or requiring additional tests or waiting periods, though the legislation did not pass the Senate.
In recent interviews on “Face the Nation,” both Harris and Walz declined to give specifics about how far into a pregnancy they believe abortions should be permitted.
Asked about it during the debate, Harris said: “I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade. And as you rightly mentioned, nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening.”
As governor, Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act (PRO Act) in 2023, codifying abortion access in Minnesota. It’s one of the few states in the country that does not prohibit abortions past the stage of viability.
According to the CDC‘s most recent data, less than 1% of abortions nationally occur past 20 weeks of pregnancy. In Minnesota, data from the state Department of Health showed that in 2022, only two abortions occurred between 25 and 30 weeks and none after 30 weeks. Late-term abortions typically occur to save the mother’s life or when families are facing situations where the fetus is unlikely to survive long after birth.
Trump on abortion
Throughout his campaign, Trump has highlighted his appointment of three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, which led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the end of the constitutional right to abortion.
As president, Trump supported legislation that included a federal 20-week ban on abortion, with some exceptions. However, during the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has told reporters he would not sign a federal ban and said each state should be able to restrict abortion as they choose.
Trump said on Aug. 30 that he’ll vote to uphold Florida’s six-week abortion ban. His statement on that came just a day after he criticized the law in an interview and faced blowback from abortion opponents.
Florida has a proposition on the November ballot to protect abortion rights before fetal viability in the state. It’s one of 10 states where the issue of abortion will be on the ballot.
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