Whatever Happened to Claudia Tenney's Serbian Medal?

Rep. Claudia Tenney traveled to Eastern Europe on an official House Intelligence Committee trip dated May 26 to June 1, 2025. The delegation included Tenney, Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, and two Intelligence Committee staffers, Rick Trimble and Matt Pylypciw. What happened over the next few days was unusual.

There was a stop in Serbia. A phone call from President Donald Trump. An announcement from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. And then a ceremony in Belgrade where Vučić presented Tenney with one of Serbia's highest state honors.

But, until now, her constituents haven't heard about either the trip or the award that was widely reported in Eastern Europe.

May 26: The Trip Begins

The Congressional Record lists the participatns and the expenses from the trip. There were four travelers: Tenney, Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Intelligence Committee staff members Rick Trimble and Matt Pylypciw. The trip ran from May 26 through June 1, 2025. The House Administration manifest lists it as travel to "Eastern Europe" for "Oversight."

Tenney and Houlahan both sit on the House Intelligence Committee's Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Subcommittee, which oversees Defense Department intelligence agencies, including the National Reconnaissance Office and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency - intelligence satelllites. They are two of the subcommittee's 10 members, so the trip was not the full subcommittee.

House records later reported the following expenses:

The House record categorizes Tenney's $14,982.09 expense as "transportation," but it doesn't break that figure down any further. Its for transportation, not just airfare although $15,000 is more than most people have every spent for transportation for a trip.

Who approved this Intelleigence Committee oversight trip to Eastern Europe? We don't know. The rules say that foreign congressional delegation trips must be authorized by either the Speaker of the House or by a committee chair. So it would have been either Speaker Mike Johnsong or House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas.

May 27: Out of the Blue, Trump Calls Tenney

By May 27, Tenney was in Serbia. We know this because at the award ceremony the next day, Tenney described sitting at a restaurant on the river when Trump called her. According to Tenney, Trump was calling about another matter. May 2025 was when there was intense activity among Republicans to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill. President Trump asked where Tenney was, and when she told him Serbia, he said, "I really like Serbia. Send them my regards and say I hope to visit one day, hopefully now when the new ambassador arrives,"

On that same day, Serbian President Vučić announced that he would award Tenney the Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class, Serbia's second highest honor, the next day. We don't know if that was the first time Tenney had heard about this or if she knew about it before the trip.

May 28: Tenney Awarded the Order of the Serbian Flag

President Vučić received Tenney in Belgrade on May 28 and presented her with the Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class.

Nineteen days earlier, on May 9, Vučić attended Russia's Victory Day celebrations in Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. Vučić's trip was widely criticized by European officials as he appeared to be giving support to Putin while Russia was in the third year of its war against Ukraine. So Rep. Tenney of the House Intelleigence Committee received an award from the Serbian president who had just met with Russian President Putin.

Serbian and regional media covered Tenney's ceremony extensively.

During the award ceremony, President Vučić praised Tenney for her contribution to relations between Serbia and the United States. He said, "Mrs. Tenney always kept and nurtured friendship towards our country. We are infinitely grateful to you for that...I particularly thank you for understanding the need to respect the rights of Serbs and other non-Albanian populations in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as for your courageous criticisms of Priština’s unilateral moves when these rights were illegally violated...Ms. Tenney was with us during some of the most difficult moments for our country. She was one of the few willing to talk to us when almost no one else was, one of the few who didn’t shy away from dialogue even when we faced unpleasant resolutions at the UN"

Tenney has a decades long relationship with Serbia. She first visited Belgrade as a college student in 1981 and later worked with the former Yugoslav consulate in New York. As a member of Congress, Tenney co-chairs the Congressional Serbian Caucus and has introduced legislation aligned with Serbian priorities. In 2023, for example, she introduced the BACKING the 2013 Brussels Agreement Act, which would have cut off further U.S. assistance to Kosovo until specified provisions of the 2013 agreement between Serbia and Kosovo were implemented.

There are rules about elected officials receiving awards from a foreign government .The Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officeholders from accepting gifts, benefits, offices or titles from foreign governments.

If the Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class, was worth more than $480, House rules required Tenney to file a disclosure with the House Ethics Committee within 60 days. The award is actually two professionally designed medals in a case. Awards of this type often fetch thousands of dollars if they come to the marketplace. If the Ethics Committee approved Tenney to keep the Order of the Serbian Flag, she was required to report it on Schedule G of her annual financial disclosure.

We reviewed Tenney's 2025 annual financial disclosure, Filing #10076400. Schedule G, filed in 2026. The gifts section, reads "None disclosed." That is, there's nothing in Tenney's 2025 financial disclosure about her Serbian medal. But it could be that Tenney filed a separate disclosure with the Ethics Committee. That committee doesn't generally post its findings online.

We emailed Tenney's office asking about the medal, its value, whether she received Ethics Committee approval, and where it is, but we haven't received a response.

May 30: Next Stop Kosovo

Two days after the ceremony, Tenney and Houlahan were in Pristina meeting Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani. The meeting covered the political and security situation, defense, investment and U.S.-Kosovo relations.

Tenney's Oversight Trip to Eastern Europe May 22025

After the Trip: No Mention From Tenney

What's particlarly intersting is that there wasn't any mention of Tenney's Eastern European trip or the Order of the Serbian Flag in her weekly newsletter "This Week with Claudia." Tenney frequently decribes awards and trips in her newsletter but there's nothing about this particular trip. We reviewed "This Week with Claudia" editions for the six weeks around her trip: May 17, 24, and 31, and June 7, 14 and 21, 2025 and found nothing. By contrast, the award was widely reported in Serbia and in regional media but there's nothing in western media.

Members of Congress who receive awards including foreign honors, proudly publicize them. It's good constituent public relations and shows the folks back home how well regarded their representative is. Accepting the second highest award from Serbia and saying nothing about it, anywhere, ever, is curious.

The One Big Beautiful Bill was being debated in the House and Senate last summer, the same period of time as Tenney's Intelligence Committee trip and her Serbian award. "This Week with Claudia" devoted considerable space advocating for the OBBBA. What she didn't mention in "This Week with Claudia" was that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the OBBBA she voted for reduced federal spending on food assistance (SNAP) and also reduced federal spending on Medicaid healthcare by more than $900 billion. The Commonwealth Fund projected that these Medicaid and SNAP cuts could result in roughly 1.2 million fewer jobs by 2029.

In summary, there are a number of unanswered questions about why Rep. Tenney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee would accept a major honor from a foreign head of state who is also aligned with Vladimir Putin, an adversary of the United States. Who authorized the Intelligence Committee trip? When did Tenney learn that Serbian President Vučić planned to present her with the Order of the Serbian Flag? Is the medal worth more than $480?. Why was it not reported on her financial disclosure? Did she get approval from the Ethics Committee to accept the award? If they did, where's the documentation? Finally, where is Claudia Tenney's Serbian award?

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