Just before Congress left Washington for lawmaker’s monthlong August recess, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) was being interviewed by Bloomberg Government journalist Jonathan Tamari (who only recently served with me on the board of the Regional Reporters Association).

I waited in the wings — while eavesdropping, of course — until they wrapped. Then I politely pounced.

“I’ve got a random one for you,” I tell Cramer.

“You never do have a random one,” Cramer laughs. “He’s always never random. Weirder than a three dollar bill.”

“This guy always does!” Tamari quips.

“That’s professor! Take one of my courses,” I reply.

“I'd like to take one of your courses,” Cramer says.

“Mark Meadows told me that,” I recount of my last conversation with Meadows in the Speaker’s Lobby — as a wood burning fireplace crackled and the hours ticked down to a government shutdown Meadows helped orchestrate — weeks before former President Donald Trump tapped him to be his chief of staff. “I was like, ‘If you come to my course, you’re going to have to speak a little bit, sir.’”

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I’m a veteran congressional correspondent. Since 2016, I’ve been a Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). On most social media I’m @MattLaslo.

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