A flying moment - and a congressman in serious need of explanation

Brad Sherman understands the mechanics of public outrage better than many of his colleagues. For nearly three decades he has served as a Democratic representative from California in the House of Representatives, an experienced budget and foreign policy specialist, a member of the influential Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. A man who usually comments on sober reports, financial oversight and international agreements - not images seen by millions on their smartphones.

Yet it is exactly such an image that has now caught up with him. On a flight on November 14, 2025, somewhere over the United States, a passenger held up his phone and photographed Sherman, who was bent over his iPad. On the screen were women in underwear and bikinis, apparently from his “For You” feed on X. The scene spread rapidly within just a few hours - 5.4 million views by the next morning. The accusation was clearly framed: a congressman watching pornography on a plane. Sherman rejects this categorically. He says he was simply scrolling through his X feed. “If I see a picture of a woman - do I look at it longer than a sunset? Yes,” he said later. “I must have scrolled through more than a thousand posts.” The images, he said, were shown to him “because of the algorithms.” It was not his interest but the result of a system that pushes out content without being asked. His face tells a different story.

Whether this explanation holds remains unclear. Because a video in our possession shows more a man who is deliberately scrolling on the page, who is not just briefly looking by chance but visibly staring at the screen for an extended moment. It does not look like a fleeting moment. That is precisely why many doubt his account. When you look at his face, it speaks volumes.

The political reaction did not take long. Donald Trump Jr. commented on the incident with a terse “Yikes!!!!”. Nancy Mace, who recently drew negative attention when she yelled at police officers at an airport, used the moment to launch a broadside against Democratic double standards. From the White House came mockery from communications director Steven Cheung: “Bruh. What a total gooner.” Sherman responded coolly and deliberately: “Bruh. Release the #EpsteinFiles.”

He hit a nerve. For months the pressure on the administration to release the Epstein documents has been growing. Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene demand immediate publication. Democrats like Marc Veasey are trying to compel the Department of Justice by law to release the files. And Sherman himself is among those who have been calling for transparency for some time. The fact that he now uses this incident to point back to Epstein shows how deeply the topic runs through American politics.

And yet the question that now follows him remains: Was his explanation credible? Or was the flight just an unfortunate moment in which an experienced politician was caught looking at something he would never admit to in public? Even Sherman concedes that it was inappropriate. “Is it appropriate? No,” he says openly. But whether that will be enough to calm the debate remains to be seen. Because in a political climate where every image can become a verdict, there is little room for nuance.

What remains is a congressman who serves on committees that oversee banking regulation, international security and foreign financing - and who is now fighting against an image that assigns him something entirely different at the worst possible moment. In times like these, it is often not the truth that decides, but the excerpt. And this excerpt now follows him wherever he goes.