Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida has emerged as one of the most prominent voices calling for a broader purge of congressional misconduct in the wake of the resignations of Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell and Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, framing the departures as the beginning rather than the end of a necessary reckoning inside the House of Representatives.
Luna told CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede: “I think that a lot of these members were by their own admission, guilty of breaking house ethics and our rules we conduct ourselves by. I know that there are a lot of accusations, obviously very horrifying accusations. And I think a criminal probe regarding Representative Swalwell, which I will continue to send any information I get to the authorities. But this type of behavior can’t be tolerated.”
Going further, Luna directly named Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona as the previously unnamed individual she had teased on social media with a cryptic post about “very disturbing” allegations, telling CBS News that some of the allegations are “sexual in nature” and that she had forwarded the information to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, whose office she said confirmed the matter has been referred to the Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics.
Gallego flatly denied the allegations through a spokesperson, who told reporters: “These are right-wing conspiracy theories being parroted by a fringe far-right member of Congress. Senator Gallego has not received notification or been contacted by the ethics committee.”
Luna has not provided specific sourcing for the allegations or the identity of the woman she claims is prepared to come forward, saying only that “there is a woman that allegedly is coming forward with attorneys who wants to go on record about an incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time, and the event was sexual in nature, allegedly.”
Luna also put Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick on notice, telling CBS Miami she expects Cherfilus-McCormick to be the next member who resigns or faces expulsion over allegations that she stole $5 million in FEMA funds, and drawing a sharp line between her own conduct and what she described as a culture of corruption that has been tolerated for too long across both parties.
Her congressional campaign to force accountability on multiple fronts has run simultaneously with a separate fight over the SAVE America Act, Trump’s voter ID and election integrity legislation, where Luna publicly attacked Senate Majority Leader John Thune after he signalled the Senate might not return to the bill after pivoting to the budget resolution and FISA reauthorisation, posting that it was time to remove Thune as Senate leader if he would not deliver on the core promise of the legislation.
Luna also chairs the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, through which she has been pressing the Pentagon to release 46 classified videos of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, setting an April 14 deadline that the Defence Department missed entirely without responding to her office’s outreach, prompting her to call the White House directly and warn publicly that “whoever’s trying to be cute at the Pentagon is about to get rolled.”
The Florida congresswoman is widely regarded within Republican circles as having one of the highest political ceilings of any member of the current congressional class, having built a national media profile through appearances on Joe Rogan’s podcast, adversarial but compelling live television exchanges, and a willingness to take on fights within her own party that more cautious members avoid.
At just 36, in only her second term, and representing a competitive Tampa-area district she has won twice, Luna is accumulating a record that could support a Senate run, a cabinet appointment, or a national political leadership role in a future post-Trump Republican Party whose contours are still being actively contested.
