Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., accused the White House of derailing Democrat support for a bipartisan executive ethics bill on which she and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., joined forces.
According to The Hill, Comer and Porter lined up an equal number of lawmakers from their sides of the aisle to serve as co-sponsors on the White House ethics bill they teamed up to pass last month.
Porter told The Hill that Democrat support for the measure evaporated on the eve of its introduction after the White House reached out to her colleagues, which she discovered when boarding a flight back to Washington, D.C.
"I was excited to come to Washington to introduce my bill and was proud that I had found three senior Democratic co-sponsors," Porter told The Hill. "When I landed, I was really disappointed to learn that those co-sponsors had decided not to support the bill and had had conversations with the White House."
Sources who spoke with the outlet said Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., ultimately decided against signing on to the bill due to concerns about its content and how it could be used against President Joe Biden.
"It's too partisan a tool to cudgel the president as opposed to a serious effort of bipartisan ethics reform," Khanna told The Hill.
"I don't think it was bipartisan enough," he said, later adding, "but I made the decision independently. No one called me."
Mfume told The Hill he "didn't get the real sense there was going to be enough bipartisan support on the bill."
"I wanted to see a larger bipartisan effort," he said. "I was under the belief that there would be, and when there wasn't, I just said, 'Let me step off.'"
He said he received "absolutely zero" pushback on the legislation from the White House or administration allies.
Krishnamoorthi declined to comment.
Porter and Comer's measure would reportedly require that presidents and vice presidents disclose any foreign income earned by either them or their relatives, as well as share their tax returns and reveal any conflicts of interest.
Certain elements of the bill seem inspired by Comer's investigation of the Biden family's overseas business dealings, such as detailing any loans made to family members and documenting when the president is joined on Air Force One by immediate relatives.
Porter told The Hill that she and Comer "did extensive publicity about the bill" and "took great pains to make clear that this is not about any future president." Rather, "it is about having the right set of rules to restore trust in the executive."
"The truth is, it is about restoring trust in government," Porter said. "Full stop."
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment on the accusation but did not immediately receive a reply.