Joseph J. Zambon
Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY-22) Attacks His Former Chief of Staff at a 2023 Holiday Party
Native Texan and first-term congressman from the Syracuse, NY area, Rep. Brandon Williams, is shown verbally abusing his former chief of staff and campaign manager, Michael Gordon.
Williams and Gordon attended a holiday charity event in November 2023 at the International Spy Museum. The event was sponsored by the Washington, DC, lobbying firm BGR Group. (A U.S. congressman attending a party held by lobbyists seeking to influence his vote is a question for another day.)
From video of Williams tirade at a holiday party:
Williams (his index finger in Gordon’s face): “Just so you know…”
Gordon, visibly frightened by the ferocity of Williams verbal assault: “I haven’t done anything…”
Williams: “Everything…You fuck with my family…”
Gordon, raising his left arm to fend off Williams: “I haven’t done anything…”
Williams: “I’ll end every relationship that you have.”
Gordon: “I haven’t done …I didn’t do…”
Williams: “Every single friend.”
Gordon: “I didn’t do…”
Williams, pushes his arm and index finger into Gordon’s face: “Do you understand me?”
Gordon: “I don’t know…”
Williams: “Do you understand me? You think I don’t know?”
Woman, both turn away and face a woman alarmed at William’s tirade: “Excuse me! Hello!”
Williams (to woman): “Hey, why don’t you get the police in?”
Williams, turns to the person recording the conversation and knocks the cell phone out of their hand.
“It was very traumatic. I thought he was going to take a swing at me.”
A second former staffer in Williams’ office, Ryan Sweeney, recorded the confrontation. Williams deliberately knocked Sweeney’s cell phone out of his hand onto the floor.
Williams communications director, Taylor Weyeneth, defended his boss by disparaging Gordon and Sweeney as former recently fired employees. According to Weyeneth, “As a former nuclear submarine officer known for his temperament and poise, tonight should be a lesson to all, never go after this Navy Nuke’s family.”
Unlike Weyeneth’s claim, the video shows that Williams’ has a volatile temperament and a gross lack of poise. Is this what he was known for in the nuclear Navy?
Like Williams’ tirade to Gordon and his swipe at Sweeney’s phone, Weyeneth’s statement, “…should be a lesson to all, never go…” is a not-so veiled threat.
Williams, to his credit, served five years in the U.S. Navy from 1991-96, and he was stationed aboard the nuclear submarine USS Georgia as the strategic missile officer. Twenty-eight years later, he still uses a graphic of a submarine in his office logo.
However, Weyeneth is wrong when he implies Williams’ behavior would be acceptable in the Navy.
As a former Navy dental corps officer stationed in two different submarine support facilities for three years, I saw the submariners as highly professional. Williams’ behavior in this video would be abhorrent to the officers I knew. I never saw an officer be physical or bully subordinates or fellow officers. The contrast between Williams’ past service and his current behavior is stark and disappointing.
Williams was the strategic missile officer on the USS Georgia with his finger on the trigger to launch nuclear missiles. Would we want someone like Williams exhibiting that kind of behavior to have his finger on the nuclear trigger? The thought is not just terrifying, it’s potentially catastrophic.
If Williams had done this when he was in uniform, he would have been disciplined, his judgment would have been questioned, his security clearance would have been lost, he’d be re-assigned off nukes, and his career in the Navy would have been over. I personally witnessed submariners lose their jobs and careers for less egregious behavior.
Unlike Congress, the Navy has no tolerance for this type of shenanigans. Witness the reduction in rank of former Trump White House physician and current Republican Texas congressman Ronny Jackson (TX13). Dr. Jackson retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral, but following an investigation by the DOD’s Inspector General, he was demoted to Captain for drinking while on duty and for routinely screaming at subordinates.
"He’s done similar to this to my staff inside an embassy event…"
The public screaming episode at the BGR Group holiday event eight months ago may be emblematic of Williams’ personnel management skills or lack thereof. In October 2023, it was reported that Williams had the third highest staff turnover of all the 435 House members. Six of 13 staffers were fired or resigned including a chief of staff, two legislative directors, a communications director and an operations director.
Williams’ staff turnover continued into the current year. In March, 2024 his second chief of staff quit (?) and he hired his third chief of staff in a year. Williams has lost key staff at about triple the average for a House member this year.
"Williams’ remarkable decision to go public about the feud is a bet that his political future will be improved by laying out its highly personal details."
The saddest part of this whole episode is the “family” justification offered by Williams’ office – “never go after this Navy Nuke’s family” – from his then communications director, recently promoted to chief of staff. The family angle is part of Williams’ damage control scheme to justify his disturbing behavior and the national attention it received.
Whatever happened, whatever the cause of his feud with Gordon and Sweeney, he didn’t have to publicly involve his daughter. That was a cynical and politically calculated decision. According to Politico, “Williams’ remarkable decision to go public about the feud is a bet that his political future will be improved by laying out its highly personal details.”
Its hard to believe that Williams pursued this strategy without input from the Republican House leadership – Speaker Johnson, Leader Scalise, Whip Emmer. The stakes are high. The Republicans are desparate to retain control of the House and to gain control of the Senate and the Presidency in order to pursue their Project 2025 agenda. The Republicans hold a very slim margin in the House so every seat counts.
There’s a David Mamet movie I like called “Spartan.” It’s a dark political thriller. In the film, the president’s college-age daughter is kidnapped because her father pulled her protective secret service detail in order to cover up his extramarital affair. The hero, played by Val Kilmer, discloses the president’s involvement to a female secret service agent assigned to protect the first family. The agent, who has a strong emotional attachment to the daughter, says, “If it comes out, they lose the election” … “Those people are savages.”
By publicly involving his daughter in this sad affair, Williams exhibits a callous disregard for her in order to protect his political career. Like Rep. Claudia Tenney in the adjacent NY-24 congressional district, Williams has a broken moral compass.