WASHINGTON — Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia, were the first lawmakers fined for breaking the rules for the newly installed metal detectors in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.

They’re being fined $5,000 each under a new rule adopted last week that mandates walking through a metal detector prior to entering the chamber. A second offense will set lawmakers back $10,000.

Gohmert, not too happy about it, characterized the rule as part of a “never ending scheme” by the Democrats to “demonize and punish their political opponents."

Unlike in The Godfather, there are no toilets with tanks where one could hide a gun in the restroom in the Speaker's Lobby off the floor. Re-entry onto the floor, where there is no magnetometer, should have been a non-issue. It has always been until Thurs. https://t.co/TNWr9VUl62

— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) February 6, 2021

In a statement, Gohmert said he plans to contest the fine and on the day in question merely exited the chamber briefly to use the men’s room before returning.

"Yesterday, after complying with the metal detector screening, I was allowed to enter the House session where debate was occurring,” Gohmert wrote. “Knowing that I would soon be giving a speech, I stepped off the House floor to use the restroom right beside the Speaker’s lobby as I have done many times since the metal detectors have been installed.

"At no time until yesterday did anyone mention the need to be wanded after entering the restroom directly in front of the guards. The three main entrances have metal detectors, but the House floor entrance from the Speakers’ Lobby does not. Originally I had gone around the metal detectors a few times until it was mandated. I have been complying for weeks since.

"I explained to the Capitol Police officer that I had never been required to be screened again from the restroom immediately by the House floor since the metal detectors had been in place at the other doors. I said they had witnessed me walk the few feet to the men’s room, enter and take the few steps back. No one ever mentioned or made that a requirement until yesterday. 

"Unlike in the movie The Godfather, there are no toilets with tanks where one could hide a gun, so my reentry onto the House floor should have been a non-issue."

The rule concerning the metal detectors was put in place following the January 6 insurrection event at the U.S. Capitol that claimed five lives.