Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88 years old, non-voting member of Congress from Washington, is facing renewed questions about her fitness to serve. The questions are coming on the heels of an alleged $4,000 fraud targeting her inside her D.C. [00:00:16] Home, according to a police report first obtained by NBC four Washington. Norton was the victim of an apparent scam on Thursday, October 24th. Individuals posing as HVAC workers entered her southeast D.C. Home. They charged her more than $4,300 for services that were never rendered. [00:00:35] That report also stated that Norton is in the early stages of dementia. Although her office strongly disputes that characterization, staffers putting up a fight there. Her spokesperson said Norton, quote, doesn't have a caretaker and instead [00:00:53] relies on a trusted employee and friend who manages household logistics. Police say the fraud is now under felony investigation. Credit card company was notified. The charges were eventually canceled. So Norton, who has held her seat since 1991, [00:01:10] says she plans to run for reelection. She'll do that again next year, according to the congresswoman. In September, she stated, I say that my seniority is what is very important and I am not going to step aside. Just weeks earlier, her own staff had urged caution, saying Norton was still in [00:01:28] conversations with her family, friends and closest advisors to decide what's best. So there are questions Jank, about whether this longtime congresswoman, well, whether we've seen perhaps enough of her and also questions about whether this is [00:01:45] about her conduct or those around her and their own self-preservation. What say you? Yeah. So, of course, it's about her own self-preservation. But it's not just about that. She clearly has dementia. It's her staffers. It's whoever is pulling the strings. She's not making her own decisions. They are. [00:02:02] And so I saw this movie before it was called The Dianne Feinstein Story. And in that case, it became clear after a long time, the person that was constantly escorting her turned out to be Nancy Pelosi's sister. [00:02:17] Come on. Having nothing to do with Feinstein's office, they had her in a wheelchair. She would repeat one sentence after and then again and again and again. She couldn't answer questions. She would then say the exact, either the same exact thing or the exact opposite. [00:02:34] There was no question she had dementia and the Democratic leadership was like, fantastic. Like before, we have to kind of bother to ask them before we make them do what the donors want. Now we don't even have to ask them. Okay. Yes, Feinstein votes for the donors every single time. But to be fair, Feinstein voted with the donors every single time anyway. [00:02:51] Now it's Eleanor Holmes Norton. Before it was also Joe Biden. And by the way, on the Republican side, you have Mitch McConnell freezing. And they're like, no, no, no, nothing to see. The donors are in charge. I mean, he's a puppet. I mean, everything's fine. Everything's fine. [00:03:07] Everything's not fine. Eleanor Holmes Norton needs to retire. Needs to be in a place where nurses can take care of her. And she can live out the rest of her life in somewhat peace and comfort. Instead of these jackals that are like, you know, just moving her along, [00:03:22] going, yeah, I represent her. Yeah. She's of sound mind. Don't listen to her. Shut up, shut up. Eleanor. Shut up. Okay. I'm the one in charge. Who elected you? Who elected? No one. Elected you. And. Okay. And Eleanor Holmes Norton, she says, oh, my seniority is important, really? [00:03:38] To what? What have you gotten past? What are you going to get past under Trump where your seniority is important? I got news for everyone in Washington. Your seniority is irrelevant. It's counterproductive. It involves you taking more bribes than other people. [00:03:54] Oh. But the donor class is giving me money for decade after decade. That's why my seniority is so important. I'm a proven commodity to the corporate world and to foreign governments. That's not that interesting. A bragging point. I hate to break it to you, and I'm not saying that [00:04:09] in regards to Eleanor Holmes Norton. Her record is mixed. Some good things, some bad things, etc. But overall your seniority is nothing but an albatross around your neck. And when you're 88 years old, you clearly have dementia and you're bragging about how you've been there for 34 years. [00:04:24] It's not the win you think it is. You've got to go. It's non-negotiable. You got to go. And and and, Sharon, one of the things I'm most upset about is that they don't care at all about the damage that they're doing to their own party. So now this is the Democrats going, oh, Joe Biden's fine. [00:04:42] Feinstein's fine. Fetterman is fine. And and Eleanor Holmes. Norton is fine. I mean, then people look at it and go, the Democratic Party leadership doesn't represent the voters at all. All they care about is entrenched power being deeply corrupt, deeply undemocratic. [00:05:01] And when it comes to the leadership of the Democratic Party, it becomes impossible to argue when you have people like Eleanor Holmes Norton still hanging on there. And on that note, we should tell you. Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader, he's still standing by her. He says it's up to the elders to decide for themselves. [00:05:19] Jamie Raskin did say she's an icon. Holmes. Norton. But he said it's going to take a new generation of leadership to win statehood and the battles of the day. So he's not actually, you know, pushing her, but he's saying a little something. Donna Brazile, Democratic operative, who said that Eleanor Holmes Norton was like a [00:05:38] mother to her second mother, said it's in her best interest and the interest of D.C. For her to serve her current term, but then end her extraordinary service in Congress and not seek reelection next year. So it's just very gentle, comforting little cuddles. [00:05:55] And then there's this, an investigative report from Luke Goldstein, Dan Bogislaw on Substack that found that Representative Norton has not one, not two, but seven. No show positions still listed on her financial disclosures. [00:06:10] Let's run them down for you. The roles include executive committee of the Yale Law School Association, Board of Trustees for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, the advisory boards at the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown. I mean, just look at them. [00:06:28] It's, for someone who was just scammed out of $4,300. I guess that theoretically could happen to anyone. And has staff members having to pretty much prop up what's going on here. [00:06:43] It's pretty sad. We contacted the half dozen board she claims to sit on at elite institutions and found that three of them had not heard from her in years. Two of them don't even exist anymore. We reached out to each of these boards. [00:07:01] Asked what exactly Norton does in these roles. After repeated attempts, not a single one could confirm Norton's attendance. American University seemed genuinely confused by our inquiry. I mean, this is the reporting the Women in Politics Institute no longer [00:07:16] has an advisory board, they wrote. The authors say the fact that these positions are still on her disclosures suggests that her staff has been resubmitting portions of her ethics forms on autopilot. Her office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. [00:07:33] It's not just these no show positions that she is not participating in. It's her actual job to. Congressional sources who spoke with deeper states confirmed that Holmes Norton is largely absent from committee meetings and planning sessions. So you're right. This whole seniority thing, despite. [00:07:51] Look, we're also in a time where you have people like me who is getting such interest and support, really grassroots, but it's not doing anything. She's not showing up. She's apparently not engaged in any way. And this is bordering on just fraudulent. [00:08:10] It's sad and sad, mostly for her constituents. Yeah. So that's funny you say that because that's exactly what I was going to build on, right? They keep saying like, oh no, but you're being impolite to Eleanor Holmes. Let's at least let her finish this term, even though obviously [00:08:26] she's not there mentally. But when are we ever going to be polite to the voters? I mean, we just covered the story, Karine Jean-Pierre saying, oh, I left the Democratic Party because Democrats were unbearably impolite [00:08:42] to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and myself. Who cares about you guys? You're supposed to be representing the voters. But Washington is obsessed with how polite they are to one another and to the powerful. I've said this on the show for over 20 years now. [00:08:58] The number one rule in Washington is do not ever be rude to another insider. To them, like being pampering the insiders, being lying on behalf of the insiders, covering up for all the crimes of the insiders and being gentle with it [00:09:16] and civil to the insiders is the most important rule. Right. Oh. The voters. It's like an afterthought. They never even think about the voters. How about her voters? The people who need to be represented like. Oh, please. You're being impolite to the powerful. [00:09:34] Yeah, I am. And that's why I'm hated in Washington. I love being impolite to the powerful. I love it. I can't get enough of it. I'm here to represent you guys. They're here to represent the powerful. Last thing. Seven. No show jobs. Come on, man. Come on. [00:09:50] So this is the same. Even if all you cared about was being polite to Joe Biden, having him stay in that race was a disaster. And that's one of the arguments I made to his top leadership. I said, I know you guys are all obsessed with Joe Biden, Joe Biden, above everyone. [00:10:06] Screw the whole country by Joe Biden. But I'm like, how's it going to end with Joe if he retires? And he does it with a year left and he hands it off? He's going to be considered a conquering hero. He beat Donald Trump, he passed the baton. Nice job. Right. But if he hangs in there and gets annihilated by Trump [00:10:24] because he can't speak, well, then he's going to go out as a goat. Not the greatest of all time, but as the guy who's taking all the blame because he deserves all the blame. And now the entire country hates Joe Biden. So now they want that for Eleanor. Eleanor. Holmes. [00:10:39] Norton. Oh my God. We want to kiss our ass. Well, now we found out she has seven no show jobs. So did that help? No. It's now destroying her legacy. Congratulations. Ass kissers. You didn't help the voters. You didn't help her. [00:10:55] And you certainly didn't help the party. Because this is exactly what's hurting the Democratic Party. This kind of insular obsession with helping themselves and never the voters. Yeah, and we're going to take a quick break. [00:11:11] But I will say this. It's disqualifying to so many people who look at Kamala Harris, who look at Mayor Pete, all of these people who stood there, either you saw something or you didn't. And it really ruins this, this future, this pipeline of talent, [00:11:29] whether people believe they were the right choices or not. It's, it's very damaging. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. 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