TMZ Goes After Members of Congress Living It Up Amid DHS Shutdown

After lawmakers left Washington for a two-week spring break with the Department of Homeland Security shut down, the Hollywood tabloid began publishing photographs of them living it up around the country.

TMZ, the Hollywood-based tabloid, is known for unleashing its throng of paparazzi and tipsters upon celebrities and then releasing photos of them in embarrassing or compromising situations.

On the 41st day of the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, as members of Congress began flying home for their scheduled spring recess after failing to reach a deal to reopen the agency, TMZ’s founder, Harvey Levin, decided they should receive the same sort of scrutiny.

He published a series of photographs of Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, including one of him holding a bubble wand at Disney World. There was an image of Representative Robert Garcia, Democrat of California, hanging out at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort. Some were pictures of lawmakers rushing through airports or on planes, making their escapes from Washington.