After berating high school Senate pages in the U.S. Capitol earlier this week, extremist Derrick Van Orden’s profane outburst is making local and national headlines. Van Orden still refuses to apologize, claiming the teens’ innocent actions were “disrespectful” to the grounds – though that didn’t stop him from storming the Capitol on January 6th.
After losing his temper and acting inappropriately on multiple occasions, even Republican leadership knows he doesn’t have the temperament to hold public office.
Read more below about Van Orden’s pattern of inappropriate behavior.
Republican US House Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin’s 3rd District is not apologizing for cursing out some high school-aged pages for taking pictures of the US Capitol Rotunda ceiling during a late-night tour.
The 53-year-old Van Orden, a former Navy Seal, called the pages “lazy sh***” and told them to “get the f*** up,” as they were lying on their backs photographing the dome after midnight, during their final week at work, according to PunchBowl News.
A statement sent to the media, from Van Orden’s office, doesn’t deny he cursed out the high-school aged pages, but instead justified the actions and called what they were doing “disrespectful”…
The apparent outburst was the latest for Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL whose two campaigns for Wisconsin’s rural western district were checkered with online outbursts against detractors and temperamental behavior. In one incident from June 2021, Van Orden reportedly berated a teenage librarian over an LGBT+ book display.
Wednesday night’s incident clashes with Van Orden’s effort to moderate his image since he entered Congress in January and present himself as someone working behind the scenes in a bipartisan manner.
Democrats on Thursday were quick to attack Van Orden for Wednesday night’s actions, with many pointing to Van Orden’s presence outside the Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, as evidence of disrespecting the Capitol and its history.
In 2021, Van Orden used campaign donations to attend the protest in Washington D.C. that ultimately led to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Despite saying he did not enter Capitol grounds, photos and reports have placed him beyond police barriers that day.
The first-term congressman has a history of incidents involving teenagers. In 2021 staff members of the Prairie du Chien library accused him of harassing a 17-year-old library employee over a display of LGBTQ-related books.
Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, has also been criticized for sharing in his 2015 book that while serving as a Navy SEAL he exposed another man’s swollen genitals to two female officers.
He has also been fined for trying to bring a loaded gun on an airplane in his carryon luggage.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is in hot water after he cursed out a group of teenage Senate pages in the Capitol rotunda early Thursday morning.
According to a transcript written by a page minutes after the incident and obtained by The Hill, Van Orden called the pages “jackasses” and “pieces of s‑‑‑,” and told them he didn’t “give a f‑‑‑ who you are.”
The incident, which occurred just after midnight, outraged members of the upper chamber, with one calling the string of remarks “horrible.”
Van Orden did not dispute the exchange and defended his actions when asked by The Hill.
This is not the first time Van Orden has flashed his temper. Van Orden reportedly threatened a 17-year-old library page in his home state over a gay pride display and demanded to know who set it up. The page in question had set the display up, and she told her parents she did not feel safe to return to the library for work.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.) isn’t backing down in the face of reporting on his Wednesday evening treatment of a group of Senate pages in the Capitol rotunda.
“The Capitol Rotunda served as a field hospital where countless Union soldiers died fighting to free men in the Civil War,” he said, adding that the Capitol “should never be treated like a frat house common room.”
Schumer said he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told the pages on Thursday evening “how much we value them” and that Van Orden was a “horrible outlier.”
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., chewed out Senate pages in vulgar fashion for taking pictures of the Capitol dome Wednesday night.
A first-term representative, Van Orden is known for his colorful past. He was present at the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, and made headlines after he was arrested in August 2021 for bringing a loaded handgun through an airport security checkpoint. In June 2021, he reportedly shouted at a teenage library worker because Van Orden opposed the Pride Month book display.
