Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Thursday the Justice Department is failing to hold lawmakers accountable for alleged misconduct while aggressively prosecuting a U.S. service member linked to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Luna told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" the disparity highlights a broader pattern of corruption on Capitol Hill.
"So there is no fair justice in this country if you have members of Congress getting away with it," Luna said, referring to allegations of insider trading among lawmakers.
Federal authorities on Thursday charged a U.S. Army soldier with using classified information about the January operation that captured Maduro to place bets on a prediction market, netting more than $400,000. Prosecutors said the soldier could face decades in prison on fraud and related charges.
Luna said she does not condone the service member's actions but questioned why similar scrutiny is not applied to Congress.
"Every single day in Congress, you have multiple members of Congress that are engaging in insider trading," she said, adding that efforts to ban the practice have faced resistance.
"[Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries went and told the Democrats not to support this ban."
Luna said the issues extend to what she described as widespread ethical problems including insider trading, sexual misconduct and misuse of funds.
"I am literally serving with many people who are morally bankrupt, and it's on both sides," she said.
She pointed to recent resignations of lawmakers and alleged misconduct cases, arguing that the Justice Department has failed to act.
"Most people go to jail over stuff like this ... and yet you have people — members of Congress — going on TV telling the American people, 'I promise I'm going to do right by you,'" she said.
Luna added that without accountability in Congress, she will continue pushing for leniency in the soldier's case, saying the current system reflects a "blatantly obvious" imbalance in how justice is applied.
She plans to call for the service member to be pardoned if he is convicted, proposing instead that authorities "disgorge his profits" and allow him to return to military service.
"An unpopular take, I'm going to be asking for him to be pardoned," she said.
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