Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who chairs the new task force to unearth long-buried “federal secrets,” has been jolted by an untold exodus of staffers fleeing what they describe as her “punitive” and “toxic work culture.”
The conservative firebrand’s congressional office has seen a nearly 100 percent turnover since the start of the year, multiple sources tell the Daily Beast.
The 35-year-old Air Force veteran has been viewed as a rising star in Trumpworld. But young staffers who went to work for Luna hoping to become the next movers and shakers in the MAGA movement say they found a dead end.
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Since January, all but one senior aide—who moved from the Florida office to Washington—have quit their jobs in Luna’s Capitol Hill office.
Luna, a member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus who represents a Florida Gulf Coast district outside Tampa, recently made headlines by introducing a bill to add President Donald Trump to Mount Rushmore. She made waves last year over her push to force a vote to hold former Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland in “inherent contempt.”
Despite her strong allegiance to Trump, former staffers—speaking anonymously for fear of retribution—said what they thought was an opportunity to advance the president’s rebranded style of conservatism proved to be untenable.
They painted a picture of workplace chaos, punctuated by unhinged 3 a.m. phone calls, in which routine congressional office matters devolved into emergency demands for immediate action during non-working hours.
Multiple sources described a culture of “walking on eggshells,” with one former staffer alleging that “anyone could be fired at any time.”
Luna’s deputy chief of staff, Olivia Carson, who is based in Florida, denied accusations of a toxic work environment.
“She has had staff who have been working for her for years without a single complaint—including myself. I am her Deputy Chief of Staff and have personally been employed with her since before she assumed office in 2022; I can attest that all of your allegations are false. To be clear: we have a very high standard of professionalism,” she said in a written statement to the Daily Beast.
The allegations by former aides highlight a stark contradiction. Luna publicly champions maternal rights in Congress—she spearheaded bipartisan efforts for proxy voting for new mothers—but former staffers said her behind-closed-doors behavior belies her public persona.
One former aide who took unpaid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to recover from a miscarriage told the Beast, “I was accused of ‘taking advantage of the office’ and hit with punitive measures. My dream job turned into a nightmare.”
“This experience has only reinforced the systemic issues that female staffers face, particularly those who want to start families without the fear of professional repercussions or unjust double standards,” she said. “It’s telling that in the months after I left, multiple other staffers followed suit,” the source added.
A high turnover rate in congressional offices is not too unusual. And Luna has not ranked among the top 10 “worst bosses” since assuming office in January of 2023, according to Legistorm’s tracker. Still, her office was up there—with the 98th highest turnover out of 381 House offices that were ranked by Legistorm.
“No one deserves to be treated the way I was, and I hope that my story serves as a wake-up call for accountability and protections for female staffers on Capitol Hill and makes it easier for the next staffer who may find herself in my shoes,” said the former Luna aide who felt she was penalized for taking medical leave.
Luna leads the newly-formed House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, which is investigating the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the origins of COVIID-19, unidentified anomalous phenomena (formerly known as UFOs), 9/11 and and the Jeffrey Epstein client list. The task force’s mission is aligned with an executive order signed by Trump.
Some staffers have alleged that her priorities have been driven more by her social media status and desire to remain in good standing with Trump than with meeting the needs of her constituents.
One source accused the congresswoman of being “narcissistic”—a showboat who pushes bills and tweets that that are “personally related to her” or “to attract Trump’s attention.” Another source close to the office said staffers have voiced frustration that “she hires and treats staff differently based off their appearance.”
Luna has posed for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue online wearing a black bikini and, last year, for Maxim wearing a white tank top. She was chosen as Maxim’s “Hometown Hottie” from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in 2014, according to Latino Observatory.
“I’m confirming that I have indeed worn swimsuits and you can tell I am biologically a woman,” Luna tweeted last year using the hashtag “#MAGA.”
Luna highlighted a tweet that featured a photo posted by her friend Ginger Gaetz, the wife of sex-scandal plagued former Rep. Matt Gaetz, in which a string bikini-clad Luna is lying on her stomach in the water’s edge on the beach. “No AI was used in this iconic image of based wife, mother, vet, and congresswoman,” she wrote.
Another former Luna staffer didn’t mince words, telling the Daily Beast, “she demands absolute loyalty,” adding that “people were always afraid she’d turn on them in a second.”
Carson, Luna’s deputy chief of staff in Florida who denied the accusations, said, “We also expect staff to be physically present in the office as we are taxpayer funded and owe it to our constituents to be present. As a young woman, I can say that Rep. Luna has given me and many other women elevated positions and pay that most members do not consider for most staff. This office is not lacking in the fairness department.”
“Lots of people have been wanting to quit for a long time,” a former employee said.
