TMZ Sent Paparazzi After Congress—and DC Loves It

Summary

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Episode Overview

Main Theme:
This episode of The Bulwark podcast dives into the emergence of TMZ DC and its unique role in Washington, D.C. politics, following co-managing editors Charlie Cotton and Jacob Wasserman as they bring a tabloid, personality-driven style of reporting to Capitol Hill. The discussion covers their experiences breaking political news in unconventional ways, recent Capitol controversies (like vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool), and their approach to covering politicians as both celebrities and public figures. The episode blends political analysis with playful banter, reflecting TMZ DC’s irreverent tone and outsider perspective.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. TMZ DC’s Emergence and Ethos

• Introduction to TMZ DC:
  Host (A) introduces the guests, describing them as “taking Washington D.C. by storm,” and references their viral questioning of Lindsey Graham about his bubble wand.

  • “You guys have been running all around town asking Lindsey Graham about his bubble wand. How's it going?” (00:07, Host)

• TMZ’s Approach:

  • Jacob Wasserman (C) explains their dual approach: sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, seeking to dig past politicians’ initial resistance to answer questions that blend politics with pop culture.

  • “TMZ is a personality... we can ask questions that are light and have to do with pop culture. And then other times we can be really serious and try to dig into big issues.” (06:08, Jacob)

  • Charlie Cotton (B) elaborates on their strategy to bridge national political coverage with relatable, “common man” questions that make political stories accessible to TMZ’s broader, less-politically-obsessed audience.

  • “Our audience, you know, is very different than the audience of a lot of reporters who cover Capitol Hill... we know they're important... what can we ask that would translate to that person sitting at home somewhere in America?” (07:14, Charlie)

2. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Vandalism Incident [00:49–04:51]

• Breaking News Segment:

  • Host breaks news about former Olympic canoeist David Hearn’s arrest for allegedly damaging the reflecting pool, noting the political overtones and attempts “to make an example” of individuals.
  • Jacob discusses the difficulty getting information from Park Police, noting bureaucratic roadblocks and a lack of transparency.
    • “I was just so fed up that I just made like a selfie video. And I was like, well, guess what? No one's telling you anything.” (02:14, Jacob)

• Concerns on Law Enforcement Overreach:

  • Host raises concerns about heavy-handedness, likening the situation to a “bad trajectory” in government transparency and civil rights.
  • Charlie reflects on whether Hearn’s alleged crime merits a severe punishment: “If he really was, like, tore off, like, yards of this thing... not good. Is he like this horrible vandal going to prison for 10 years? ...Seems a bit heavy handed to me.” (04:04, Charlie)

3. Behind-the-Scenes Oddities of Washington [08:51–10:41]

• Fresh Perspectives from Outsiders:
  • Host recommends Michael Lewis’s book Losers for its fresh outsider perspective, paralleling TMZ DC’s approach.
  • Charlie shares that their initial assignment (pursuing photos of vacationing Congress members during a pay stoppage) highlighted how normalized congressional perks are within the Beltway, but seemed bizarre to outsiders:
    • “They get more time off than school children? Are you serious? ...Wait, this is normal here? ...that’s been a bit of the charm of us being here is discovering this city and how it operates with fresh eyes.” (09:44, Charlie)

4. Celebrity Culture Meets Congressional Life: The Lindsey Graham “Bubble Wand” Saga [10:41–12:24]

• Viral Questioning:

  • The team plays viral clips of TMZ DC pressing Senator Lindsey Graham about the Disney World “bubble wand” photos.
  • Lindsey Graham’s answers become a running gag, but Charlie commends his willingness to engage:
    • “I will say this about Lindsey Graham... he doesn't shy away from an interview. He welcomes the interest...” (11:32, Charlie)

• Building Relationships Through Pop Culture:

  • Despite the absurdity, building rapport with politicians (often unexpectedly) is part of their job.
  • “Even though it seems like we're hassling him about that, two months later, I think we actually have a decent rapport with him now and he's very open to speaking with us.” (12:11, Jacob)

5. The Abe Hamadei Office Gossip [13:13–15:15]

• Congressional Oddities and Tabloid Tension:
  • Host asks the TMZ duo about rumors around Congressman Abe Hamadei’s office decor and the curious “looks maxing” (i.e., appearance-competition) culture among his staffers.
  • The duo expresses a line between reporting on public eccentricities and privacy (not wanting to be “bedroom police”), but admit such stories attract attention.
  • Host pushes that such oddities are “TMZ-ish,” highlighting D.C. absurdities that cross into pop culture:
    • “I'm asking because I've been waiting for the TMZ Abe Homaday take. Is it because he's in the 300 you don't recognize, you haven't taken him down yet?” (13:53, Host)

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On Bureaucratic Obstacles:
  • “I took a cab, go there, like, knocking on the door, no one's answering. And I'm like, isn't there a police department? Can't you just, like, walk in? No, you can't.” (02:14, Jacob)
• On DC Insiderness:
  • “Everyone in D.C. gets that these congresspeople are off all the time... but for us, from L.A., we were like, what, they get more time off than school children?” (09:44, Charlie)
• On Politician Recognition:
  • “You printed out a hell of a lot of A4 color printing... so that we could, like, try to like... okay, that's him, that's her, that's AOC... I probably got my mind around 150. Two months. It's not easy.” (08:21, Charlie)
• On Lindsey Graham’s Interview Openness:
  • “He doesn't shy away from an interview... he welcomes the interest.” (11:32, Charlie)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Introduction to TMZ DC and hosts | | 00:49 | Breaking news: Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool vandalism | | 03:23 | Reporter’s frustration with Park Police and transparency | | 04:04 | The reflecting pool case—political context and overreach debate | | 06:08 | TMZ DC’s ethos and style, bridging pop culture and politics | | 07:14 | How TMZ DC adapts for a non-political audience | | 08:15 | Struggles with recognizing 500+ Congress members | | 08:51 | Reference to Michael Lewis and outsider reporting | | 09:44 | D.C. oddities noticed by outsiders; culture shocks | | 10:41 | The Lindsey Graham bubble wand viral story | | 11:32 | Building rapport with politicians | | 13:13 | TMZ DC’s take on Congressman Abe Hamadei rumors |

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Tone & Style

The episode adopts a lively, bantering, and occasionally irreverent tone. The TMZ DC duo and the host oscillate between mock-seriousness and genuine inquiry, seeking humor and oddity in the rigid world of politics while occasionally calling attention to deeper issues of transparency and power.

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Summary Value

This episode provides an insightful glimpse into how political coverage can be enlivened by outsider perspectives and pop-culture sensibilities, humanizing (and sometimes lampooning) the powerful while also exposing aspects of D.C. life that insiders take for granted. The TMZ approach, as described here, mixes accountability with entertainment, striving for both substance and shareability in the heart of American democracy.

Transcript

[A]

Hey everybody, we are here on the Bulwarks YouTube page. I am here with two guys who are taking Washington D.C. by storm. They are the TMZ DC duo. On I guess the left as you're looking at the screen is Charlie Cotton and his counterpart Jacob Wasserman, their co managing editors. And you know, you guys have been running all around town asking Lindsey Graham about his bubble wand. How's it going?

[B]

Oh, going great. Bubble one's going great too. Congress is on recess right now actually for July 4th, so God knows where Lindsay is maybe bubble wanding it up somewhere. I would be.

[C]

I like how that's a verb, bubble

[A]

wanding it in the gay community. That's going to have some subtext that we don't want to get into. All right, let's look out there.

[B]

All right. All right.

[A]

We've got some breaking news I want you guys your take on before we kind of introduce what you've been up to at TMZ dc. David Hearn, who is a former Olympic canoeist, has been arrested for allegedly reaching into the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and ripping off some of the beautiful American flag blue coating. He's been indicted by a grand jury as of today Thursday on a felony charge. Jeanine Pirro, judge box of Wine, did a whole press conference about this serious crime and talked about how he's got. They're going to go for 10 years for this. You remember they failed on their attempts to go after sandwich man in D.C. and this is her latest effort. You guys have been covering the reflecting pool stuff. I know. Jacob, you were down at Park Police HQ trying to get info. Why don't you give us a little reaction to this news and what you know about the situation.

[C]

I'm just curious if this is the tip of the iceberg. I mean, when we were at the reflecting pool just a couple weeks ago, we saw numerous people. I guess we saw one guy get arrested, we saw another woman get detained and then eventually released. And I don't know if they're just going to be making an example out of Hearn or if he's just the first one to drop and maybe everyone's going to be gone after by the park police.

[A]

But when you were at Park Police hq, what were you, What'd you, what'd you find out there?

[C]

Oh, not much of anything. That was the issue, was I, we, we were spinning our wheels at the reflecting pool. And then later that night I see that Trump was in the Oval Office taking questions and then he says, oh, well, you know, if you go to the parks department, they'll tell you about the box cutter who cut like a 300. What did he say, 300 yards or 3? So I'm like, okay, I'll go, because I'm curious about what's going on. And it was like, I know, personal issue, but it was awful weather that it was like, raining and the part. And this department is like, middle of nowhere. I took a cab, go there, like, knocking on the door, no one's answering. And I'm like, isn't there a police department? Can't you just, like, walk in? No, you can't. So eventually, just a woman came out, handed me a post it note, like, this is the email for the public. I'm like, I know what the email is. I was just so fed up that I just made like a selfie video. And I was like, well, guess what? No one's telling you anything. So I wish I was more of a resourceful guy on this, but so far I'm not.

[A]

It feels like to me, like, in a free country, people should be able to go and touch the reflecting pool without any fear that the government is going to try to detain them. And I do think that enterprising reporters like yourself should be able to go to the park police prison and have free reign, not be rebuffed. It shouldn't be like an El Salvador gulag situation in the park police prison. It does feel like we're kind of going a bad trajectory here, you guys. You started this all what, a couple months ago now? Four months ago now?

[C]

Two months. Really?

[A]

Two months?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So you feel like kind of you're at the beginning of a arc towards dystopia when you see news like this. Or was this about what you were expecting?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, the reflecting pool is a hot button issue, you know what I mean? And look, the claim is that Hearn Piro said he went in the water, he grabbed it and would, like, you know what I mean, was pulling it off. I mean, I haven't seen any evidence of that, but that's what the claim is. If he really was, like, tore off, like, yards of this thing. I mean, not good. Not good. I mean, we can agree to that. Is he like this horrible vandal going to prison for 10 years? He seemed. He seemed like a nice guy when he was wearing his bike helmet and, you know, he seemed like he wasn't there for trouble, but maybe he is this horrible scofflaw. We just don't realize. I don't know, it seems. It seems a Bit heavy handed to me.

[A]

What would be the punishment, do you think, in Australia, like in Oz, is it sort of more of a law and order country?

[B]

Yeah, we are criminals. We're descended from criminals. So maybe you get a pat on the back in Australia. I don't know. Probably not. You send them to another country.

[A]

Yeah. Just kind of imagine kind of the dingo going after. Do you have a famous pool in Perth?

[B]

A famous pool in Perth? I'm not from Perth.

[A]

Or Melbourne.

[B]

Melbourne, thank you. Actually, Tim, I hate to hit you with a gotcha question. I'm from the capital of Australia, which is Canberra. No way, Tim. That's actually.

[C]

He asks that to a lot of people and they never get it.

[B]

They never get it.

[A]

You know, I mean, I did do well in the geography B in sixth grade. You know, we don't need to focus on that. I can go over who beat me. It was kind of a traumatic moment, but I was pretty successful with geography being my. My mother was kind of like a Lebanese tiger mom, though, and she was. She was disappointed with my. Was my second place finish. Why don't we guys talk about the ethos of what you guys are doing? So, you know, you go over there two months, you run around Capitol Hill like, what are you trying to do? What's different about what you're doing than the other reporters over there? Give us just a little sense of, you know what, how a celebrity gossip outlet thinks about COVID in Washington.

[C]

Yeah, well, TMZ is a personality. And I think at times Charlie and I can be really funny or try to be funny with people. And we can ask questions that are light and have to do with pop culture. And then other times we can be really serious and try to dig in to big issues. And some. And, you know, I think the. The people who report on the Hill do a great job. Something I've noticed, just generally speaking, is when maybe we'll ask a question, someone will shut it down, they'll try to do like a follow up, and then it kind of ends there. We're trying to break through that a little bit. And I think Charlie is fantastic at that, as seen in his interviews with Ted Cruz and Dan Muser, where we're really trying to dig into an answer. And like everyone, we try to cultivate relationships on both sides of the spectrum. And I think by doing that, people have begun to trust us and we can really get into these interesting kind of casual, informal dialogues that I think resonate with people.

[B]

Our audience, you know, is very different than the audience of A lot of reporters who cover Capitol Hill, our audience maybe isn't as politically engaged. So I still think they're politically engaged, but not as politically engaged as like cnn, Fox News, the bulwark, you know what I mean? So how do we get this interview with someone, that someone sitting at home scrolling on TMZ or watching us, our program? How do we make them care about this, you know, Congressman from Alabama? They live somewhere else in America. Why? Why would they care what this guy or girl has to say? Well, that's the battle for us and that's what we're trying to do. Ask, you know, common man, common woman type questions that regardless of who this person is in front of us, we know they're important. Right? We know that they have got a lot of power. What can we ask that would translate to that person sitting at home somewhere in America?

[A]

How have you guys figured out how to recognize people with difficulties?

[C]

Not easy.

[A]

Flashcards.

[B]

Thank you to our office because you printed out a hell of a lot of A4 color printing, by the way, sheets of paper so that we could like try to like. Okay, okay, that's him, that's her, that's aoc. Okay, recommit that to memory. And so I feel like. So there's 550 odd of them. I'd say I probably got my mind around 150. I don't know. We've been in two months. It's not easy, but yeah, that is a struggle.

[A]

You bet. One little piece of homework I got for you is there's this great book about the 1996 campaign by Michael Lewis called Losers. Michael Lewis is like best book, maybe his best book. It's the most underrated book. He's much more well renowned for Moneyball, et cetera. But it was interesting because he goes to cover this 96 campaign as somebody who's not a political reporter. And it's so much better than all the other campaign books because he's just observing things that are interesting or weird that all of the political reporters just kind of go along with. And like this is just kind of how it is. Like this is how we do business here. And I just, I'm wondering if that is, you know, kind of caught your eye at all where you're just like this. If people kind of saw behind the camera about what was happening, like it looks very formal or whatever right in front of your face, but like everything around it is preposterous.

[B]

So true, man. Well, what kicked us off, what sent us over here to D.C. was our campaign started by our big boss, Harvey Levin, saying, if you see them out on vacation, these congress people, while psa, you know, isn't getting paid, send us the pics. Send us the pictures of the congressman enjoying their lives while some people aren't getting paid. And so that's a very. Like, everyone in D.C. gets that these congresspeople are off all the time, and it's just like, they don't even think about it. Like, it is what it is. But for us, us from L. A, you know, we were like, what, they get more time off than school children? Are you serious? And there's been so many of those instances where we're like, wait, this is normal here? And everyone's like, yeah. I mean, yeah, it is. And so I think that's been a bit of the charm of us being here is discovering this city and how it operates with fresh eyes.

[A]

One example of that, of course, was Lindsey Graham at Disney World. He was pictured carrying a bubble wand. It caught the attention of the nation. We did several videos about it here on the Bulwark YouTube page. You guys had the opportunity to ask Lindsay about it a couple of times. And so we'll just play a couple of the clips.

[B]

I'm from tmz. Could I just ask you about the bubble wand?

[A]

Sir,

[B]

can I tell you quickly about the bubble wand? Could I ask just where is that bubble one now at this point in time? Where is it?

[A]

You know, I don't know.

[B]

You don't know?

[A]

I didn't buy it for me.

[B]

Who'd you buy it for?

[A]

For a friend's girl.

[B]

That's very nice of you, man.

[A]

One thing I've learned, I think we need competition for bubble guns because it was pretty high. Yeah, I like the deadpan.

[B]

I mean, I will say this about Lindsey Graham. You know, he gets a lot of flack that. That, you know, and maybe deservedly so, depending on where you stand. But he doesn't shy away from an interview. And, you know, him and I have no sort of bad blood over the bubble one sort of quest line of questioning. He. I mean, so I. I give him credit that he welcomes the. The. You know, the interest and, like, so. But, yeah, the bubble one thing was just a life of its own because it's such an absurd. Absurd.

[C]

Well, Charlie, when we got here, Charlie, like, first, he was like, first clip has to be the bubble wand.

[B]

All I wanted.

[C]

He dedicated himself to getting it. But. But again, even though it seems like we're hassling him about that, two months later, I think we actually have a decent rapport with him now and he's very open to speaking with us.

[A]

Okay, well, don't show him this clip because we do have some bad blood, me and Lindsey.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because way back, you know, he was a Jeb supporter. I was Jeb's communications director. We've. He loves the chardonnay. You know, sometimes the end of the campaign, he'd drink a lot of chardonnay while I would have to sit there and babysit him. And so I've now moved into anti Trump media and he encountered me at a spin room about a year or two ago and started screaming at me about how I should be ashamed of myself. So.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

It's okay. Whatever. Sometimes these relationships aren't meant to last.

[B]

You want me to ask him about it, Tim? I can get him on the Hill like next week. I ask him about it.

[A]

I think it's okay. I mean, given the Iran war and other things that he's complaining, I think they're probably better questions for you. But we'll talk if I do have little fun questions related to my past for you. I'll think about.

[C]

We could be your line.

[A]

Yeah, I'm trying to think about the way to transition from Lindsey Graham to Congressman Abe Hamadei without being too on the nose. I mean, Abe has done some interesting interior decorating of his office. Very large walk in closet in the office. And there's an interesting story about him last week, not from you guys, about, you know, how he's a live in staffer gentleman and I don't know, I just. I've been kind of. I'm asking because I've been waiting for the TMZ Abe Homaday take. Is it because he's in the 300 you don't recognize, you haven't taken him down yet or.

[B]

I see Abe all the time and I'm like, what up, Abe? You know.

[A]

So do you have any thoughts on what's happening there? The off. It's pretty strange what's happening in the office. I think the decorating, the looks maxing the live in staffer. Well, it looks TMZ ish.

[B]

Who's.

[C]

Who's looks maxing in the office?

[B]

The interns.

[C]

The interns are looks. What does that even mean?

[B]

Like, you haven't seen the photos, but

[C]

like, are they competing against each other? What do you mean by like looks, Max?

[A]

I think that they might be doing some bone smashing.

[C]

That's news to me, you guys tell

[A]

me that's what I'm. This isn't this what you're here for? That's. That's why I. If you an ABE chat. I mean, it feels like TMZ viewers might be interested in the bone smashing. Downton Abbey decorated, you know, Republican congressman.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I don't think we're. We're interested in, like, his living situation. Like, we're not. We're not here to play bedroom police. You know what I mean? Like, maybe.

[A]

Hey, no opposite. We love. You know, the weirder in the bedroom, it gets the better. That's my policy. Whatever you're down with, but it is not policing. It's just. It's curious. It's interesting. You know, it'd be one thing if it was like a seat, you know, in secret, but. But the office. I mean, he posted a picture of a. Of a man and like, very small pants with his bulge showing the other day.

[C]

Well, I don't know enough about his situation, honestly. But what I can say is that, like, there are plenty of people who live in their office, and frankly, it's like a lot of people don't make enough money to the point where they can have a place in their district.