TMZ launches DC bureau, tracks down Graham, Cruz on first day

TMZ, the tabloid known for its sensational headlines and dirt-digging on Hollywood celebrities and other famous people, is opening up shop in Washington, D.C., with an eye on covering Congress.

Producers for the website arrived on Capitol Hill this week as Congress returned from a two-week recess, and confronted Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) as they got settled in the halls of the Capitol.

A video the outlet posted on Monday showed Graham putting his hand in front of the camera and ignoring a TMZ staffer who asked him, “Can I just ask you about the bubble wand, sir?”

The question was in reference to images TMZ published during the recess showing Graham visiting Disney World in Florida in which he was pictured holding a bubble wand.

In another video the outlet posted on Monday, a producer asked Cruz if he was “on the Pope’s side or on the president’s side” in the wake of President Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV over the holy figure’s criticism of the war in the Middle East.

“I’m quite confident both the Pope and the president speak for themselves,” Cruz responded, before saying, “I understand you want to get me in the middle of that.”

“I’ve given you my answer,” Cruz insisted as the producer pressed him further. “You can keep asking and you’re going to get the same answer.”

The outlet recently announced it was opening a bureau in D.C. to scrutinize lawmaker behavior and what founder Harvey Levin said this week highlight “how politics and pop culture” converge.

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