It's been a tough week for Democratic New York congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who is facing the wrath of his own party after he decided based on new political maps to switch districts. Rather than fight it out in his own district, he is running in a neighboring district already held by a Democrat.
The attacks started with his New York colleagues in the House. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) said Maloney's decision to challenge a black colleague was "thinly veiled racism." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said Maloney should resign his chairmanship of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Liberal MSNBC host Chris Hayes said Maloney's decision was the "most egregious political malpractice I have ever seen in my life."
This all comes with Democrats poised to lose a historic number of seats in the House, and the majority that Maloney is tasked with maintaining is all but destroyed.
You could say he's had it coming. Here are some of his most outrageous actions since the Canadian-born Maloney was elected to Congress in 2012:
The Time Maloney Partied Maskless at a French Billionaire's Estate During the Pandemic
In August, the DCCC chair partied maskless at a billionaire's estate in France, even as he and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to wear masks.
"We all have to do our part to crush this virus," Maloney wrote during his luxurious jaunt on the French Riviera. "Get your shot, wear a mask, and follow CDC guidelines. It's just the right thing to do."
Maloney's trip violated U.S. health and safety guidelines, which unequivocally warned not to travel to France due to the pandemic.
The congressman's Instagram stories of the trip included footage from a wedding at the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild, which is outside of Nice on the Mediterranean coast. The guests were all maskless. The bride is a close associate of Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance (D.), who chose not to prosecute sex criminal Harvey Weinstein.
Maloney and his husband later visited Italy, even though the State Department said Americans should "reconsider travel" to the country because of COVID-19. A photograph shows the two maskless at an indoor art studio in Puglia.
The DCCC chairman capped off his transatlantic jaunt in Napa Valley, attending a Democratic fundraiser featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Tickets cost as much as $29,000 for donors. Servants were masked, but Maloney and the other guests were not.
The Time Maloney Hired a Gang Member To Advise Democrats on Diversity
Just weeks after being made chairman, Maloney hired a former "triggerman" for an upstate New York gang as a senior adviser for diversity and inclusion at the DCCC.
Dyjuan Tatro was on parole for drug and assault convictions in New York when he was hired, according to state records. In a 2010 plea agreement, the DCCC diversity and inclusion head admitted to attempted murder, assault, running guns from out of state, and distributing crack—making him eligible for a life sentence.
Before his hiring, Tatro attacked law enforcement on social media, comparing cops in the United States to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. He tweeted and then deleted a post after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot calling U.S. Capitol Police "white supremacists."
Shortly after he was hired, Tatro shared photographs of himself on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico—an apparent violation of his parole. It's unclear when the trip occurred.
Maloney did not return a Free Beacon request for comment about his decision to hire Tatro.
The Time Maloney Went to Bat for Pimp Running Online Brothel Rentboy.com
After federal prosecutors took down the ringleader of Rentboy.com, an online database for male prostitutes that turned a blind eye to underage boys selling sex, Maloney wrote a letter to top Obama administration officials to call the arrest "troubling."
In a February 22, 2016, letter to U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch and Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson, Maloney said the arrest of Rentboy.com CEO Jeffrey Hurant was homophobic.
"This seemingly arbitrary action by DHS and DOJ—which appears to be aimed at shaming the LGBT community rather than protecting the American people—comes off as a disturbing relic of our troubled past," Maloney wrote.
Hurant had run the prostitution website for two decades but was shown leniency by a judge who referenced letters in support of Hurant like the one sent by Maloney. He only received six months in prison and a $7,500 fine, though the website had earned more than $10 million in revenue in the years before it was shuttered.
The federal indictment shows Hurant and Rentboy.com were aware of illegal prostitution activity taking place on the site, and encouraged it—Hurant even held an annual award show for male prostitutes called the Hookies.
Hurant has made donations to Maloney's Democratic colleagues since his release. During the 2020 election cycle, Hurant contributed money to Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign, and several House candidates. The Free Beacon previously reported that Hurant donated hundreds of dollars to Barack Obama in 2008.