Democrats have a Bad Boy epidemic, from fire alarms to bribery scandals

One pulled a fire alarm during a congressional vote. Others have been charged with accepting bribes. And a father-son team faces an impeachment inquiry, gun charges and a tax evasion probe that started with prostitutes.

Welcome to the bad boys of the Democrat Party, circa 2023, where scandals and investigations are piling up.  

The latest episode came this weekend when Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) pulled the fire alarm during consideration of the stopgap funding resolution in Congress. He says it was to open a door; others allege he did it to interrupt the ongoing proceedings and delay the vote. Either way, he's facing an investigation.

And Republican colleagues, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have called for him to be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis has called for him to be expelled. 

In a state bordering the Big Apple, New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, pleaded not guilty last week to federal fraud, bribery and extortion charges. He faces multiple calls to resign from the Senate, including by more than half of his fellow Democrat senators, according to The New York Times.

Menendez was charged Sept. 22 with using his official position to support Egyptian interests and benefit three businessmen in exchange for cash and gold, which was found hidden in his house. While he did step down from his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has no plans to resign from office. 

Also last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Exelon Corp., electric utility Commonwealth Edison Company and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore with fraud in connection with a multi-year scheme to corruptly influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, another fallen Democrat.

From 2011 through 2019, ComEd arranged for multiple associates of Madigan to get jobs, subcontracts and payments to influence Madigan regarding legislation favorable to ComEd in Springfield, according to the SEC's action against Exelon and ComEd.

The complaint alleges ComEd arranged payments to Madigan's associates through third-party vendors to conceal the size of the payments and to assist ComEd in denying responsibility for oversight of Madigan's associates, who performed little or no work.

Three members of America's first family also face investigation: President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and his brother James.

According to a report from Just the News, James Biden told the FBI in an interview last year about efforts by him and Hunter Biden to help the CEFC energy firm in China buy a liquid natural gas facility on Monkey Island off the coast of Louisiana, and that he personally met once with the company's chairman, Ye Jianming, according to the FBI interview report released by the committee.

"James B noted (Hunter) portrayed CEFC to him as Chairman Ye was a protégé of President Xi," FBI agents wrote in the report.

While Hunter was mentioned in the FBI report, he is facing other controversies as well. Earlier this year, he was indicted on federal charges related to allegedly falsifying a gun application by failing to disclose he was using drugs at the time he filed for the permit in 2018. He has pleaded "not guilty" to these charges.

Due to the recent controversies and alleged scandals surrounding the Biden family, House Republicans have opened up an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden. Evidence the GOP has already released includes bank records, Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR), text messages, whistleblower testimony as well as testimony from several of Hunter Biden's business associates. Some of this came from Hunter's laptop.  

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has said that the evidence so far shows that President Biden "allowed his family to sell him as 'the brand' around the world to enrich the Biden family."

House leaders have requested additional materials to further their inquiries into Biden, his family and the administration's alleged weaponization of the federal government.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said during a Fox News interview that Biden lied when he claimed he never received money from China, even though multiple payments were made by foreign nationals to his family, as well as to shell companies while he was vice president. 

Hearings for the impeachment inquiry began last week.