Rep. Anna Paulina Luna rejected a Wall Street Journal story that put her at the center of the kind of insider-access controversy she has publicly fought to outlaw.
The Florida Republican was accused in the report of tipping off Rogan O’Handley, the MAGA influencer known as “DC Draino,” about President Donald Trump’s 2024 running-mate pick before it became public so he could allegedly cash in on Polymarket.
Her X post framed the Journal’s premise as invented rather than misunderstood.
“The fact is: this is false,” Luna tweeted. “There are screenshots and time stamps on X to prove it.”
“There is now an open investigation into the false reporting of which people will have to learn, you cannot file fake claims because you’re mad at your ex-boyfriend,” she added.
I typically hate having to post internal communications, but this journalist was not being transparent and trying to create a narrative that doesn’t exist. It is important that everyone knows that. Here is his correspondence with my Comms Director. The fact is: this is false.… pic.twitter.com/K00PHY9h0k
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) July 19, 2026
The Journal story centers on whether Luna privately knew Trump’s pick ahead of time and whether that information reached O’Handley before now-Vice President JD Vance was announced.
The Journal reported that Luna had been telling people close to her that she knew Trump’s running-mate choice. The alleged tip was placed at a Tampa social club and tied to a Polymarket bet.
O’Handley had been describing an online effort to get Luna picked for the ticket, according to the Journal. The winning Polymarket bet came after he was allegedly told the spot was going to Vance instead.
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Luna tried to poke holes in the report by releasing text messages between her communications director and a Journal reporter.
Among the messages was a deleted post from conservative commentator and comedian Arynne Wexler, whose account appeared to overlap with the Journal’s allegations.
Wexler’s deleted post described a summer 2024 lunch where, she claimed, a female lawmaker bragged that a MAGA influencer made $10,000 after being tipped off.
O’Handley’s answer to the Journal was just as categorical.
“Any suggestion that I traded on confidential information or discussed doing so is inaccurate,” he told the Journal.
On the federal probe question, he described himself as “unaware of any federal investigation.”
Democrats quickly tried to turn the allegation into a class-war hit against Luna.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee used a Monday news release to cast the report as proof that Luna and her allies were benefiting from Washington access.
“While Florida families are working harder than ever just to keep up with rising costs, Anna Paulina Luna is helping herself and her Washington insider allies cash in,” DCCC Spokesperson Anna Elsasser wrote.
“It’s the same out-of-touch, self-serving politics Floridians are tired of from Luna. Floridians deserve a representative who works for them — not one who treats public office like a personal opportunity.”
The Journal framed the matter as one piece of a wider Commodity Futures Trading Commission look at prediction-market betting by Washington insiders, while noting that Luna herself was not the focus and that an investigation alone does not establish wrongdoing.
Luna’s response to the Journal included a jab at the idea that she could have predicted Trump’s decision through anything other than guesswork.
“I am honored the WSJ thinks I am telepathic but unfortunately I am not,” Luna responded.
Her side has tried to turn the accusation back on whoever supplied it. Her office told the Journal that Luna filed a CFTC criminal complaint accusing someone of knowingly feeding false information to the agency.
The insider-trading allegation cuts against one of Luna’s own signature fights.
Her December 2025 discharge petition was aimed at forcing a House vote on a congressional insider-trading ban.
At the time, Luna framed the issue as one of the rare political demands shared across party lines.
“Across the country, from every political background, the American people agree on one thing: Members of Congress should not be enriching themselves with insider knowledge,” Luna remarked.
“This is one of the most popular, most supported issues in the entire country. Americans deserve a Congress that works for them, not for special interests or personal portfolios.”
Months earlier, she had threatened to force the Restore Trust in Congress Act onto the floor, arguing that lawmakers cannot serve constituents while watching their own investments.
With Democratic and Republican co-sponsors beside her in September, Luna made the stock-trading fight about both returns and representation.
“Frankly, the fact that members are getting, what, plus-600% returns on their investments is wrong,” Luna stated.
“But more importantly, how could you ever be expected to represent your constituents when you’re clearly worried about your pocketbook?”
The bill from Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., targets individual stocks, securities, commodities and futures held by lawmakers, spouses, dependent children or trustees.
The proposal would not wipe out every investment option. Diversified mutual funds and ETFs would remain allowed, along with Treasury, state and municipal bonds, precious metals and small-business interests.
Luna was also trying to put Congress on defense over a separate security claim.
Over the weekend, Luna and Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., pointed to a former member of Congress they accused of helping foreign-government agents get into congressional offices.
Luna said declassified files would back up the allegation in the coming weeks. Her warning did not identify the former member.
“Some seriously disturbing declassified files will be coming out in the coming weeks about a Former Member Of Congress placing interns in other offices that happen to be agents of foreign governments,” Luna wrote.
“Representative Kat Cammack has legislation that would require background checks on staff, and it should be brought to the floor immediately.”
She added that the alleged infiltration was a security crisis. “Also, this is a massive security breach,” Luna noted.
For Cammack, the alleged breach was proof that her background-check bill should already be moving.
“You read that right,” Cammack tweeted. “There are NO background checks for Congressional staff. H.Res 500 would require background checks and full disclosure of dual citizenship and employment of foreign nations for staff. No surprise to anyone that we are being fought every step of the way.”
Cammack’s Monday interview with LiveNOW FOX focused on the resistance she said the proposal had already met from leadership.
“I’ve heard some of the most insane excuses. I’ve heard things like, “Oh, we don’t have time. We have time. We certainly have time. And again, this could be put on the floor immediately,” she stated.
Her argument was that draining the swamp should start inside congressional offices.
“The American people… And my goal here is to drain the swamp. And it can start right here in our own backyard by running these background checks and letting the American people see who’s actually working on their behalf, or if they have ties to a foreign nation and they’re doing bidding for someone else,” she told the outlet.
