Familiar faces, familiar places: The latest from Capitol Hill

“See you in all the nostalgic places,” crooner Billie Holiday sings.

Those working hard in Congress certainly met with many old friends recently in familiar parts of the Capitol.

First, Vice President-elect and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) appeared.

Vance has been a senator for less than two years. However, he is now 40 years old and will assume the position of vice president. He will be the youngest vice president since John Breckenridge served with President James Buchanan in 1857.

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But he has rarely been seen at the Capitol since President-elect Trump named him his running mate in July. Mr. Vance visited the Capitol in June to vote. Went there for Independence Day. And he was chosen as his running mate. Then it was nowhere near the Capitol for the August recess. Mr. Vance only immersed himself in the Capitol in September to see his doctor. Then there were elections.

Vance did not immediately parachute back to the Capitol. But he returned to vote again last week, mostly to shuttle Trump's Cabinet nominees through a series of meetings with senators. Vance facilitated a meeting with senators and defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building. In addition, a meeting with former congressman and former attorney general candidate Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) was held in the Strom Thurmond Room in the Senate Building of the Capitol.

At one point, Vance also made a bizarre diversion into a series of secure rooms on the House side of the Capitol used by the House Intelligence Committee. It was never clear why Vance went there, who he met with, or what was discussed.

When Vance and his entourage disappeared from the Strom Thurmond Room, reporters tried to track him down.

But reporters found someone else. It was former Trump chief of staff and former Congressman Mark Meadows, RN.C.

When asked if he was there to talk to Vance or work on the transition, Meadows replied, “I'm just leading the tour, guys.” “This is just a personal visit.”

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However, Vance quickly returned to the Strom Thurmond Room to speak with Gates.

Gaetz resigned from Congress after the president-elect nominated him as his first attorney general nominee. The Florida Republican abruptly resigned from the House the next day. Mr. Vance brought Mr. Gaetz to the Senate wing of the Capitol last week for a private discussion with members of the Judiciary Committee.

After meeting with senators, an energetic Gaetz left the Capitol via the House side.

Gaetz (left) was abruptly stripped of his seat as a member of Congress shortly after he was nominated by President Trump to head the Department of Justice. In retrospect, this resignation appears to have been hasty. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“The senators have given me a lot of good advice. I'm looking forward to the hearing. The public has been very cooperative. They've told me we're going to get a fair process. So today, we “It's a great momentum day for the Trump-Vance administration,” Gaetz said. “We're going to tackle fentanyl. We're going to make sure the Justice Department is no longer involved in censorship. And we're going to make sure we get the country back on the right track.”

Gates withdrew from consideration 18 hours later.

Gates announced that his nomination was “unduly intrusive.” He added: “There is no time to waste on an unnecessarily prolonged brawl in Washington.”

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Colleague Alexis McAdams reported that Gaetz came to the conclusion himself.

In his resignation letter to the House of Representatives, Gaetz made it clear that despite having just been re-elected, he has “no intention” of serving in the new Congress, which begins in January.

So Gates is now a former congressman. He will not be attorney general and is a former candidate. And he will not be a member of parliament in the future.

Given the former congressman's current career trajectory, Gaetz's future presence on Capitol Hill will be limited, to say the least. (Reuters)

So write off Gates as someone who probably won't be seen around the Capitol very often in the future.

Until he wants. After all, former members are allowed to return to the building at any time.

After Mr. Gaetz resigned as attorney general, I ran to the Senate and followed Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to the Hart Senate Office Building, and I followed Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, to the Senate Office Building. I persuaded you. Reporters near the entrance to the Senate carriage house. When they returned indoors, the man was standing in the hallway on the first floor near the Brumidi Corridor, checking his cell phone. No one else paid any attention to him. I don't even know if the other reporters had no idea who the guy was.

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“Are you glad you weren't here anymore on a day like this?'' I asked.

The man laughed and nodded in agreement.

That person was former Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana).

Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram recently ran into former Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) at the Capitol shortly after Matt Gaetz withdrew from the race for the AG slot. Vitter seemed happy with the fact that he no longer had to be there for work on such days. (AP photo)

But on the same day, another former member also graced the Capitol. He worked primarily with House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest and Republican Miss Hector to prepare a report on Gates' conduct.

“I said, 'Well, okay, I'll go,'” said former Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.).

And there he was.

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The House of Representatives expelled Santos about a year ago because he was less reliable about who he was than Milli Vanilli.

“I have absolutely no constraints on speaking to you,” Santos told reporters.

Santos was looking for a guest who was the author of the House Ethics Committee report that ultimately led to the New York Republican's ouster.

Former Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.) was also at the Capitol following Gates' resignation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)

Santos became the sixth lawmaker to be expelled from the House of Representatives. However, his position as an expelled lawmaker around the National Diet Building is the same as that of a former lawmaker who resigned, retired, or lost his seat. You are a former member. That means Santos has access to the Capitol. This was a loophole that congressmen said they would fix after launching Santos, but it never did.

“If he runs away from me, I will stand in front of his office and scream at him through the door,” Guest Santos said.

“Have you been in touch with Gates?” one reporter asked.

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“No, no, he's busy. He's lobbying the Senate, and rightly so,” Santos replied.

Note that this was the day Gaetz was meeting with senators at the Capitol, just hours before he withdrew his nomination for attorney general.

“What do you think about President Trump's other nominees so far?” a reporter asked.

In response to questions, Santos praised the president-elect's Cabinet decisions, but said he had not been in contact with Gates recently. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“It's amazing. It's amazing. It's transformative. It's the proverbial wrecking ball into the swamp. And they're facing an existential crisis. And they're fighting for their lives because the American people “With Donald Trump, because he gave them a crisis and a mission,” Santos said.

“Is it fair to say you need to sharpen your axe since he led the charge against you?” a Santos reporter asked about his guest.

“Remember that my ethics report was incomplete and there was a footnote that said I did not recommend any discipline because it was not a complete report? Yet he is still full of misleading information. “I went to submit a resolution that would eliminate the errors that were made. Does it basically contradict what's in the report?” Santos retorted. “I mean, he’s fed up.”

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Reporters then focused on whether the House Ethics Committee should release its report on Gaetz, even though Gaetz is a former member.

“He's not scared,” Santos replied. “I don't blame him.”

“Are you planning on asking for a pardon?” asked another reporter.

Santos insists he has “no intention” or “enjoys” talking about the possibility of a pardon. (AP Photo/Stephen Jeremiah)

“That's not a conversation I had. I'm not going to have that conversation,” Santos said. “I don't find that conversation interesting.”

Santos also told the audience, “I have no intention of running for office again.”

This means that despite the stigma of Santos' ouster, he may continue to emerge unabated on Capitol Hill.

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As vice president, Mr. Vance will regularly return to the Capitol to preside over the Senate and is certain to end the relationship in some cases. But Gates, Meadows, Vitter, Santos, and soon Vance are all in the same position. They are former members. And that means they can return to the Capitol at any time.