A handful of Republican members of Congress defended one of their Democratic counterparts on Wednesday and, amazingly, it’s not an April Fools’ Day joke.
Congress is currently in recess for two weeks amid a partial government shutdown that started in February and has left other government employees working for free.
The resultant chaos inspired TMZ to ask the public to send photos of politicians vacationing during the shutdown.
Some of the lawmakers who’ve been caught on camera include Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was seen on a trip to Walt Disney World, and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who was photographed at a Las Vegas casino bar.
On Wednesday, TMZ added Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) to the ever-growing list and published a photo of him working as the timekeeper at his 12-year-old son’s basketball game.
The Florida Democrat hadn’t commented on the story as of Wednesday afternoon, but many of his Republican colleagues seemed to think that TMZ’s attempted takedown was off-base.
Moskowitz’s timekeeping at his child’s basketball game offered better optics than “a childless Senator at Disney,” wrote Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), taking a swipe at fellow Republican Graham on X.
Other Republican members of Congress and conservative media figures also came to Moskowitz’s defense, lauding him as a “Great Dad” and calling his support for his son’s team “wholesome.”
Others called TMZ out.
And a few people suggested a tongue-in-cheek conspiracy theory that Moskowitz or his staffers had planted the story.