Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Heritage Foundation Exec Busted Carrying ammo and Drugs Into US Senate Building

Heritage Foundation Exec Busted Carrying ammo and Drugs Into US Senate Building

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/28/800076008/community/heritage-foundation-executive-busted-carrying-a-gun-fentenal-and-cocaine-int/ 

Heritage Foundation Exec Busted Carrying ammo and Drugs Into US Senate Building

by Kelli Anne Busey
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This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.

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Chris Wingate, public relations director, Heritage Foundation arrested for carrying drugs and 9mm ammo into the Russell Senate Office Building
Heritage Foundation Exec Matthew Wingate was busted with Fentanyl, Cocaine and Adderall while trying to enter the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington DC.Russell Office Building ajay_suresh / Chris Wingate – Heritage FoundationCC by 2.0

The government relations director for the ultra-right Heritage Foundation, Matthew Wingate, was arrested while trying to enter the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington DC. An X-ray of his briefcase revealed pistol ammo and later searches found home made pills that tested positive for Fentanyl, Cocaine and Adderall.

Wingate was charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and was released after pleading not guilty at his arraignment, according to The Independent.

Full Stop!

So a top executive from the Heritage Foundation, the originators of Project 2025, gets busted for trying to enter one the most important Senate buildings while carrying pistol ammo and drugs and and not a peep from great leader or any of the major US news organizations?

Lets imagine that the person busted had been a black muslim transgender man? Trump would have been up all night for a week vilifying him on social media! Not to mention Fox News! They would have had red meat for months feeding trump’s cult exactly what they want to hear.

Wingate who has a concealed weapons permit said the pills were prescribed by a doctor is due back in court on August 27.

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  1. Comment by kamachanda.

    Hey! It's not like he "vandalized" the Reflecting Pool.

  2. Comment by blueoregon.

    He must be with the branch of the party Cawthorn was screaming about.

  3. Comment by Chokingsmoker.

    "WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR SOME"

  4. Comment by Simnsays.

    Lot of speculation in the comments but I suspect he's just another white, male, asshole who thinks he needs a gun to protect himself from the masses and likes himself some drugs and thinks the rules don't apply to him. Just guessing, of course.

  5. Comment by xerorest.

    Wait a minute, Didn't they say the pills were home made. Then they weren't prescribed.

    • Reply by thegameisthegame.

      I think bc of the mix of drugs testing positive means it is wasn’t a prescribed medication. Also … was it only ammo and not the pistol ???

  6. Comment by sweetthesound.

    What is a home-made pill?

    • Reply by nonextremist.

      A pill you make at home yourself?

  7. Comment by juliabliss.

    How hard is it to just leave these things at home (or in your car) for a couple hours? The wealthy white male privilege is just too much some days.

    Plus he probably lied on his gun permit about doing drugs so ... Hunter Biden something something.

    • Reply by MartyM.

      He was bringing those “things” to R members in the building.

    • Reply by Simnsays.

      Plus government buildings are not included with a concealed permit.

    • Reply by Steveabroad.

      Or as zenbassoon suggested earlier, he was bringing those things to put in Dem members' offices, to get 'discovered'.

    • Reply by Hugh Jim Bissell.

      Remember: the SCOTUS just ruled that forbidding guns for people using street drugs is unconstitutional. And Remember: that law that Hunter Biden was found guilty of (gun possession while using a cocaine user) was taken off the books because of its questionable constitutional standing BEFORE Hunter Biden's prosecution for that "not-a-crime".

  8. Comment by AMusingFool.

    Man, he got a prescription for cocaine? Neat.

    • Reply by thehecticdialectic.

      And how many doctors prescribe home made pills?

      Does the AMA care to comment?

    • Reply by BLUE YETI.

      He must be running the Heritage Foundation compound pharmacy.

    • Reply by J Fedora.

      Recreational cocaine is legal in his mind.

  9. Comment by Ralphdog.

    White privilege part #3,457,895.

  10. Comment by @Loca Grienga.

    What a shock or not! What a delusional RQP/right winger carrying HOME MADE pills must be STREET DRUGS. Pills that tested positive for Fentanyl are usually prescribed for severe pain ( having pain, not being a pain in the .neck.) as for cancer. Cocaine is a major street drug, and prescription Adderall (ADHD) is a sleep disorder called narcolepsy can is often sold on the street. So what ails him for “prescription” drugs? Who is the prescribing doctor? Pistol ammo for a man with a concealed weapons permit means usually then have a gun with them. Where is his? I am so looking forward to the “O” of this “FAFO”. Not gonna make it under the rug.

  11. Comment by carstonio.

    While that sounds like an assassination plot, I imagined him aspiring to kidnap a Democratic woman lawmaker to make her his handmaid, and I don’t say that as a joke.

    • Reply by Steveabroad.

      That would be roofies.

  12. Comment by Kansas Born.

    The story is, unfortunately, only a drop in an intentional daily flood of performative privilege and RW rule-breaking. They count on societal exhaustion.

  13. Comment by jds1978.

    'Home made pills of cocaine...' That isn't any script I've ever heard of. No doctor is going to prescribe that for any reason. Does this guy really think that's how this works?

    • Reply by MikefromOrland.

      Best news yet, this guy is a board certified ortho surgeon. IOW, he damn well knows better.

    • Reply by T Maysle.

      or maybe not these days.. cuz fentanylcocaineadderall's a helluva drug..

    • Reply by MikefromOrland.

      It explains Hegseth.

    • Reply by thehecticdialectic.

      But also this: "Wingate was charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and was released"

      Possession of a controlled substance like fentanyl or cocaine is a misdemeanor? And he gets released?

      But possession of pot in Kansas can get you a year in jail.

    • Reply by Spancos.

      “Cops have the best dope.”

  14. Comment by sickandtiredagain.

    The doc who prescribed the cocaine also needs to be arrested.

    • Reply by K S LaVida.

      Someone pointed out that Wingate is actually a surgeon by trade. So he could well have prescribed them himself. Maybe even written a prescription to his alter ego, or at least his oversized ego.

      This does however go to show that you can get into medical school without having a lick of sense.

  15. Comment by Jimprints.

    Prescription?! Make him take them!

  16. Comment by morbious8.

    No doubt he was going to plant them and then claim that they were Joe Biden's. Maybe Hillary's.

    • Reply by MikefromOrland.

      Hunter's.

  17. Comment by zenbassoon.

    This is what's coming. I will make a bet that he was going to try to plant that stuff on Democrats or in offices, and what not and he would have been the first. The plan being to start arresting Democrats and throwing them into the camps. "They're drug addled murderous criminals who were planning on terrorist attacks so they all have to go". He was going to try to Reichstag Fire the place. And they will keep trying.

    • Reply by sidnora.

      I hate that I’ve become so inured to their criminal behavior that I believe this was the plan. There was a time when I would have said you’re being paranoid.

    • Reply by varro.

      Since he was a lobbyist, they could be Republican Party Favors for R Congresscritters or their staff.

  18. Comment by Paoli Graveyard.

    So, he gets an Escalade!

  19. Comment by CreekSider.

    Thanks once again for bringing a big story here KAB, and I've now become a follower of yours.

    Drugs and carrying a weapon into the Senate should be enough to take his firearms license away, but of course this is MAGA Washington, so a slap on the hands at best.

    • Reply by sickandtiredagain.

      White man, no consequence except slap on wrist. We can raise money for this site by taking bets on when that will happen.

    • Reply by dadadata.

      Well, it's the office building, not the Capitol. Maybe they can next bust Andy Harris, (MD-Odious-1) a second time.

      Drug abuse would explain a fair amount of what goes on among these righties.

    • Reply by flfrog.

      No slap necessary...reward/

      Perhaps an ambassadorship?

      Or yes, at least an Escalade!

    • Reply by Spancos.

      Since it is apparent that they have no conscience or scruples, there’s growing evidence that lots of Republicans utilize drugs as a tool for deadening and heightening mental states in order to mimic self confidence while unabashedly displaying sociopathy.

  20. Comment by ProfPupdog.

    Did he have a home-made prescription and a home-made license to make those pills?

    • Reply by Hugh Jim Bissell.

      The story above says the pills contain cocaine. There is no outpatient need/use for cocaine. No licensed doctor is going to write a prescription for cocaine for outpatient use.

      If the substance found was indeed cocaine, he did not get it by a licensed doctors prescription.

    • Reply by De veritas.

      Plus remember, they were described as "home made" pills that tested positive for Fentanyl, Cocaine and Adderall.

      Heritage used to be a hardline but basically "rational" right wing outfit, now it's a rats nest of deranged white nationalist, plutocratic masculinists and tradwomen.

    • Reply by MikefromOrland.

      Wingate is a board certified orthopedic surgeon in South Dakota. In other words, he knows the rules, just using "pill" impressions to break the rules. Plus, the ammo was a clip of 9mm, not a loose bullet or two.

    • Reply by De veritas.

      Yikes. Unless the Board in SD is too MAGA, maybe they can de-certify him for misconduct? And what do you think of the theory it was to plant on Democrats, sounds plausible to me.

    • Reply by The Dead Heart.

      I bet he got the prescription from Ronny Jackson!

    • Reply by Hugh Jim Bissell.

      1) DEA (the federal agency that controls prescription meds) rules forbid physicians from prescribing narcotic medications for themselves. That is illegal.

      1) A board-certified surgeon would certainly know the laws about which medications are legal to prescribe for outpatient use.

      3) If indeed the offender is a licensed physician, he is facing legal consequences (possession of a controlled substance), and medical licensing consequences as well (he could lose his DEA prescription privileges; he could lose his medical license).

    • Reply by pdxler.

      The Heritage Foundational has never been “rational” towards queer and trans people.

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