TMZ, known for celebrity news and gossip, has taken on Washington, D.C. with a trio of reporters who are confronting lawmakers and questioning President Trump during their short time in the nation’s capital.
Jacob Wasserman and his colleagues, Charlie Cotton and Jakson Buhaj, have gone viral questioning politicians and for their overall posts about places to eat, places to live, and things to see here in Washington. Now, part of the TMZ DC team joins Alex Swoyer to talk about their experiences.
[SWOYER] Charlie, I was going to start with you. You were born in Australia. What is your take on being here in America and Washington, D.C. specifically? How does our capital compare to what you had over there?
[COTTON] Well, it’s quite different. In fact, I was born and raised in the capital of Australia, Canberra. And so I spent a lot of my youth around sort of government buildings. Both my parents were journalists. So, you know, it kind of makes sense and feels familiar almost being here in your capital. Obviously, it’s far grander and your politicians are more of like celebrities, I guess, than ours. But yeah, it’s been just amazing to see kind of behind the curtain of how your political system works and who’s running it.
Because, I mean, it’s a cliche, but they’re just like us. And that’s what I think when I have these chats with these amazing politicians — that like, when you just chat to them one-on-one, you realize that they’re just people, too. People who are hopefully trying to make the best decisions possible for their constituents and for America. But yeah, I see a similarity between Australia politics and America politics, but here it’s just on steroids, you know what I mean?
[SWOYER] Yeah, I feel like it’s what everyone talks about. Jacob, I wanted to ask you — I saw you posted on X that you have been here, what, like six weeks?
[WASSERMAN] Probably a little bit under that.
[SWOYER] I saw you already moved. You said something about your living situation, and then you were moving again. I was going to ask you, what’s your take on the city? What has the experience been like? People are following you, you became the bagel guy. They’re looking at you for restaurant advice. Some of your posts around the city have been fun to follow. What do you make of Washington, aside from just being at the Capitol?
[WASSERMAN] I’m coming to you live from my relative’s living room right now. So I still have not found a permanent residence. The best thing about D.C. so far is the people. And I really mean that. And I think that’s what makes the city. Of course, people talk about how some of those who work on Capitol Hill are a little bit stuffy. And yeah, we’ll run into some people who are occasionally, you know, not always that fun. But for the most part, people have been incredibly welcoming. And not just those who work in politics, but all across the city — people who I meet on the Metro, people who I meet at restaurants. And so far, we’ve been able to indulge a little bit in some of the great food you have here. And really, the city’s been welcoming us with open arms. So it’s been great so far.
[SWOYER] One of the things I want to do is a lightning round with you guys. Whoever wants to go first, jump in. What was the idea that we need a TMZ DC? You know, was it just because you guys thought Washington, what’s coming out of the news here, is so chaotic that you need a team there?
[COTTON] Short answer: bubble wand. You know, we did a campaign — TMZ did a campaign — basically telling members of the public that while these senators and representatives are on congressional break, and while DHS is still shut down and TSA isn’t getting paid — send us the pics of these guys and girls on vacay or on recess, because if they’re getting paid, then why aren’t other Americans?
We did that campaign and it went crazy. And the number one viral thing we got was Lindsey Graham holding a bubble wand at Disney World, which was my first interview when I got to D.C.: “Tell us about the bubble wand, sir.”
So that sort of viral phenomenon that, you know, our boss Harvey Levin started — when that was hitting, there was a conversation between Jacob and myself and the office saying, I think this is the time. I think this is the time TMZ really gets our feet wet and gets political. And so we moved here. It wasn’t on a whim — we’ve been being political at TMZ for a while now — but to really start this TMZ D.C. bureau, the catalyst was the bubble wand.
[SWOYER] When I was covering the Hill, I thought Senator Graham was one of the ones that was very approachable. He seemed to always answer questions. I don’t know if that’s been y’all’s experience, like if he was responsive — to respond to the photos that you guys had. Or do you find some lawmakers — you know, which ones do you think are more agreeable or approachable in your experience here?
And also, you guys — I’m so impressed y’all know who everyone is. Like, you call them by name and there’s hundreds of representatives. I remember when I covered the Hill, it was like I always felt like I had to play catch-up, or like make sure I was like looking at the right person as I was seeing which committee they were on. You must have done your homework.
[COTTON] Yep. Yeah, we did our homework. We printed out pages with people’s faces and names and the committees they’re part of to try to get their face and the name in our heads. But to answer your question, Lindsey Graham, very approachable. I just interviewed him yesterday. It was like an ask me anything. All of these people were surprisingly approachable for how important they are. And like, you know, you’re just doing a walk and talk with TMZ. It’s amazing. Just about everybody has been like, cool, let’s do it. What do you want to know?
[SWOYER] I was stalking both of y’all’s X. And I think, Jacob, it might have been you. You might have been the one that approached Maxine Waters. One of my favorite things was asking her about the age — who’s too old to serve. And it’s just one of those kind of uncomfortable moments because clearly — I don’t know if she had a cane, but she was kind of having a hard time. Like you could just tell she’s elderly. I think she’s actually one of the oldest members of Congress. What is that experience like? Do you feel like that when you ask those questions that put them in the hot seat, how they’ve been receiving it? And then also who’s your dream get?
[WASSERMAN] Well, for the former, you know, we’ll ask people pretty blunt, direct questions, but we never want to be disrespectful. And it’s like when I was speaking to Maxine Waters, the reason why I spoke with her about it is because she’s 87 years old. But I’d also just seen her at a press conference give a very fiery speech. And I referenced that when I was speaking with her. So it wasn’t at all to be demeaning. This is a conversation.
[SWOYER] I think you handled it in a very respectful way. I’ll just put it out there. As a reporter, you’re like, well, I’m going to be asking an older woman about age.
[WASSERMAN] Well, that’s the job, right? And age in Congress is something that we would frequently talk about on our TV shows when we would film in Los Angeles. So it just felt natural to bring it up here when I had the chance to speak with a member.
In terms of someone that we would love to speak with moving forward, we’ve been getting that question, and I wish I could be more particular with, oh, this would be a dream get. But I think the whole thing that we’re trying to do with TMZ DC is actually talk to the obscure people, the people that you haven’t heard before who don’t get to be a part of the cable news rounds. And that way we can show people who really work in D.C., and maybe someone who hasn’t gotten the chance to step in front of the limelight. Like maybe they’re a really interesting person and maybe they’ve done something that might propel them to the mainstream because they’re so relatable.
Watch the video for the full conversation.
