Watchdog group calls for investigation of GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn after police stop

Following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, Congress has been on high alert. But some Republicans in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have been lax about respecting security measures, and the Center for Accountability — a nonpartisan ethics watchdog group — has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee for possibly violating Senate rules that prohibit preferential treatment for lawmakers by police officers.

Forbes' Adam Solender reports that CFA is requesting the investigation in response to a recent incident in which Blackburn was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. CNN has reported that when the car was pulled over, Blackburn got out of the car, flashed her pin, got back in the car and told the driver, "Drive" — and the officer, according to CNN sources, "didn't say a word, just shook his head."

CFA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith, according to Solender, requested an investigation of that incident in a letter to Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware and Sen. James Lankford of Nebraska.

Solender reports, "Blackburn's office confirmed that version of events to CNN but said she was complying with a request from the officer for identification – though Kuppersmith alleged that claim 'does not ring true,' noting that Blackburn was the passenger and that typically, police would ask the driver for identification."

The 68-year-old Blackburn, a native of Mississippi, served in the Tennessee State Senate and U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2018 midterms.