A congressman ridiculed Meghan Markle for using her royal title in lobbying U.S senators. He noted that the British royal family had strict rules against getting involved in politics.
The Duchess Sussex cold-called at minimum two Republican senators – Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia and Susan Collins in Maine – to plead for support for paid parental leave.
New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gilbrand, who gave Markle their phone numbers, stated that the duchess now wants a working group’ to discuss policy proposals.
Jason Smith, a Republican congressman representing Missouri, said Markle was trading off her royal title and ‘interfering’ in an inappropriate way.
‘If she wants to be a royal, she needs to be a royal – she can’t have it both ways,’ Smith told TMZ on Thursday.
A congressman accused Meghan Markle of trading on her royal title, as seen with Prince Harry.
TMZ asked Jason Smith, a Republican Congressman from Missouri, for his opinion on Markle’s lobbying efforts.
“I think it’s great that a U.S. citizen, or a former movie star from Suits, should lobby U.S. senators.
“But when lobbying U.S. senators, Meghan Markle did as: “I am Meghan Markle, Duchess Of Sussex” – she’s lobbying Congress, interfering from a position to use her royal title.
Smith noted that Prince Harry, the 40-year old, and Smith decided to leave the royals in January 2020.
He suggested that she instead of calling senators, and saying it was “Meghan, Duchess”; she should instead say, “I’m Meghan, the former star in Suits.”
Smith stated, “Clearly, if we look at the Royal Family, they have a very long-standing policy to be neutral in U.S. political affairs.
“And she and Harry fled the royal family. She did not renounce her royal membership in this family.
Smith stated that he would welcome Gillibrand calling him and would explain why he didn’t think the plans for paid parental leaves she and Gillibrand were encouraging were a good idea.
Markle’s activism began on October 20, when Markle wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House) and Chuck Schumer (Leader of the Senate) asking them to support the proposal. It was part of Biden’s infrastructure program.
Markle described herself as someone with a modest upbringing who enjoyed Sizzler. She also said that paid parental leaves were vital for families such as her childhood unit.
Markle wrote, “I grew up eating the Sizzler $4.99 salad bar,”
“I knew how hard my parents worked for this because eating out at five dollars was something I enjoyed and felt fortunate. I started working at the local frozen-yoga shop at the age 13.
Markle stated, “I waited tables, babysat and piecemealed jobs together in order to cover odds and ends.”
However, she failed to mention the $750,000 California state lottery win her father scooped in 1990, which funded her secondary education at $9,412-a-semester Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles.
Meghan also attended a private school, Hollywood’s Little Red Schoolhouse nursery. She attended this nursery from the age of 2.
The primary school is now priced between $20,000 and $28,300 per-year and was paid for entirely by the taxpayers.Her father Thomas and her airline steward mom Doria received their salaries.
She went on to study at Northwestern, a college in Illinois, that would have cost $24,000-$28,000-a-year for tuition when Meghan studied there from 1999-2003.
However, the duchess said that she worked from 13 to do several jobs to cover odds and ends’. She also stated that saving money was a luxury’ for her family in a letter.
“I worked my whole life and saved whenever and wherever I could. But even that was a luxury. It was all about making ends meets and having enough money to pay my rent, and my car gas.
She continued, “I expect many of you constituents to have their own version of this story,” she said.
Markle, pictured with Prince Harry, and her firstborn Archie, has entered U.S. politics
Smith stated, “I would love for her to call me, so we could talk about this – Meghan, this bill doesn’t help the families who eat at Sizzler.”
He concluded by saying, “I would simply say, most American are Team Kate anyhow.”
“I know that you are.”
On Wednesday, both senators called by Markle stated that they were shocked at her intervention.
Collins stated that she was happy to speak with her, but that she is more interested in the information Maineans have to me about paid parental leave.
Moore Capito stated she expected Joe Manchin to call, the other senator from West Virginia. Manchin, a moderate Democrat has been leading the charge for Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. He has made concessions to progressives and pressed moderate Republicans like Moore Capito into agreeing.
She told Politico: ‘I’m in my car. I’m driving. It says that caller ID has been blocked. Since Senator Manchin is calling, it seems that the caller ID was blocked.
“Sen. Capito?” I said “Yes.” She replied, “This is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.”
Moore Capito said, “I couldn’t figure how she got mine number.”
Shelley Moore Capito (a Republican senator for West Virginia) told Politico Wednesday that she was shocked by Markle’s call.
Markle also called Susan Collins (Republican senator for Maine), She stated that she had told her that there were many approaches and that people were working on them.
Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat senator in New York, claimed she gave Moore Capito, Collins and Capito’s telephone numbers to Markle. Gillibrand is a vocal advocate for paid parental leave.
After having resigned from the royal family in 2020, she was amused that Markle, a Los Angeles-born woman, was using her British title as a lobbyist for U.S senators.
Collins stated, “Much surprise to my delight, she called my private line number and introduced herself as Duchess Sussex.”
She said to Politico, “I was happy that I talked with her, but I’m interested in what people from Maine have to say about paid leave.”
Collins later told The New York Times: ‘She just weighed in that she thought paid leave was really important, and I told her there were a lot of different approaches, and people were working on it.’
Biden had initially hoped to push through plans for a 12-week paid family and medical leave program, costing $500 billion over 10 years.
The benefit fell from 12 to 4 weeks to $2 trillion, from $3.5 trillion. This was in order to reach an agreement with Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, a moderate Democrat.
Gillibrand stated Wednesday that she had given Markle’s numbers to senators. She said it was only the beginning.
Gillibrand stated that she spoke to each of the female senators and let them all know that Gillibrand was going to reach out to them because she had only completed two calls.
“She’s going on to call some other people, so I let her know in advance.”
Gillibrand added: ‘She wants to be part of a working group to work on paid leave long term and she’s going to be.
“Whether this comes to fruition today or later, she’ll join a group of women who hopefully will work together on paid leave.”
Markle’s latest intervention raises suspicions that she sees herself in a future political position, similar to her heroines Angelina Jolie or Amal Clooney.
Some even speculated that she might be thinking about running for political office – or even the presidency, according online hype.