Lawmakers mix silly and serious at journalism gala: 'The free press must endure'

Lawmakers mixed sometimes-NSFW witticisms with dire warnings about the future of democracy as they traded barbs and banter at the Washington Press Club Foundation's annual Congressional Dinner.

"In this town, they're no longer talking about DEI," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told the audience gathered at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. late Wednesday for the 79^th annual roast-like gala.

"It has been banned. It is gone. It will never be seen again," Issa said, referring to President Trump signing multiple executive orders aimed at terminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government.

"There's only one problem. I'm Darrell Edward Issa," the congressman exclaimed, suggesting his initials had become a liability. "I formed a company known as DEI. My email is DEI@DEI.com," he said to laughs.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) addressed the crowd filled with members of Congress and journalists with an impression of Trump singing a reworked, current events-inspired version of the Beach Boys' 1988 hit, "Kokomo."

"Aruba, Jamaica, Panama — I'll take ya. Bermuda, Bahamas, Greenland, come home to your mama," Lawler sang as the president.

"Off the Mediterranean Sea, there's a place called Gaz-a-Lago, and that's where you wanna go, to get some USAID," Lawler sang, before floating Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) as a potential future Speaker.

"It all depends on how [Rep.] Nancy Mace and the Freedom Caucus are feeling on any given day," Lawler continued, before zinging the South Carolina Republican.

"Nancy Mace has gone so far off the deep end lately that she makes [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)] look like [Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)]," Lawler said.

"I'm really here because DOGE locked me out of my office," Rep. Pete Aguilar said of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

The California Democrat then took a more serious turn: "There's a lot going on, and in the public, many people are feeling inundated by the chaos and the confusion of the White House and the Republican Congress. You can't blame them for feeling overwhelmed."

"The public needs a free press in this moment to rise to the occasion, to do the best, to tell the truth and report the news without fear or favor."

Moore, one of the night's featured speakers along with Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), made light of the fact that he's not considered a household name before boasting of GOP wins.

"Republicans have gained so much since the dark days of January, 2021. I mean, think about it, we've taken so much from the Democrats. We took the Senate. We took the White House. We took Elon [Musk] from y'all," he cracked.

"All of the oligarchs, actually. Tulsi [Gabbard], Bill Maher -- most of the time. We took the popular vote. For crying out loud, we even took a Kennedy," Moore said, referring to Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), before introducing Smith, asked the audience: "What is the difference between Greenland and Donald Trump?"

"Greenland is not for sale," Klobuchar said.

The senator noted how she has the distinction as the "only person in the world who has ever been alone in a car with [former President Biden] and Trump." The Minnesota Democrat said her Inauguration Day ride with the presidential pair was "actually quite cordial." But at Trump's inauguration, Klobuchar said, "I really couldn't see the speech at all because I was seated behind Melania's hat."

The dinner honored Emily Ramshaw of The 19^th with the Crystal Candlestick Award for Editorial Leadership and The Detroit News's Melissa Burke with the David Lynch Regional Reporting Award for Excellence in Congressional Reporting.

Smith aimed some of her jabs at her Republican colleagues in Congress, recalling how when she first arrived in the Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) apologized after mistaking her for another lawmaker's wife.

"Lindsey said, 'I'm sorry. I must have my head up my ass,' -- which was really nice of him to say. And it was an honest mistake. And besides, everyone knows that Lindsey's head is way up Donald Trump's ass," Smith said.

"Hopefully I'm the politician that you meant to invite tonight, because Nancy Mace couldn't make it," Smith said.

"She's in her happy place, inspecting genitals in the House bathroom," Smith said. Last year, Mace introduced a bill to bar transgender women from using facilities on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.

But Smith also reserved some quips for her fellow Democrats.

"Let's be honest, the Democratic Party had a worse year than Drake," she said.

Smith ended her remarks on a more solemn note.

"There's a reason that authoritarian regimes always come after journalists, because you are uniquely positioned to speak uncomfortable truth to extraordinary power," she said in her message to the media.

"So I'm not asking you to take sides in the fight between Democrats and Republicans, but I am asking you to take sides in the fight between democracy and authoritarianism."

"I'm asking you to demand that the American people are fully informed about what is being done in their name, because the truth must matter," Smith said. "Democracy must prevail, and in order for that to happen, the free press must endure."

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