Jamie Raskin and Liz Cheney spent a lot of time together on the January 6 Select Committee. This week, they ran into each other again, and the internet lost its mind.
The two former committee colleagues were both at a Washington book event on Tuesday night, honoring a mutual friend who had written about their time in Congress. A photographer caught them sharing a laugh near the bar, and that was all it took.
By Wednesday morning, the picture was everywhere. People made up captions. Others posted it next to old hearing photos with the words “reunion tour.” One account drew little hearts around their heads and asked, “Are we seeing what I’m seeing?”
There was nothing to see. Raskin is happily married, and both of them made that clear quickly. But the jokes had already taken off.
“They were talking about the weather and a cheese plate,” said Alex Bruno, a DC event planner who helped run the evening. “That’s it. I was standing right there. If that’s a scandal, every party in this town is a scandal.”
Raskin, known for his dry sense of humor, played along a little. In a post on social media, he wrote that he and Cheney had discussed “the deep and passionate subject of hearing room seating charts.” He added that his wife was laughing harder than anyone.
Cheney was more blunt. Asked about the rumors by a reporter outside the event, she rolled her eyes and said, “We worked together for two years. We are allowed to say hello.” Then she got into her car.
The gossip did not slow down, though. On some corners of the internet, people made fake movie posters starring the two of them as an unlikely political duo. Others joked that the January 6 committee was getting a spinoff. One user posted a poll asking which would be more surprising: Raskin and Cheney agreeing on a tax bill, or Raskin and Cheney agreeing on a restaurant.
Their critics found a way to get in a few digs too. Some on the right said the photo was a reminder of everything they disliked about the committee. Others just enjoyed watching two people who have spent years in the serious headlines become the subject of a silly one.
“People love a story,” Bruno said. “Give them two well-known faces in the same frame and they’ll write the rest themselves.”
Both offices have declined to say anything else. Friends of Raskin say he finds the whole thing hilarious and has been sending the best memes to his family group chat.
Cheney’s friends say she is less amused but not bothered. She has dealt with far worse than a few internet jokes.
By the end of the week, the story had mostly run its course. The photo will probably resurface the next time they are in the same room, though. In Washington, a good piece of gossip never really goes away.