Three Republican Congressmen battle for reelection in HBO’s new documentary film, The Swamp.

Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme follow Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on the campaign trail over the course of 2019. While much of their time is spent fundraising, they also are dealing with hearings on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings on Russian meddling into the election of 2016 and with impeachment hearings around President Donald J. Trump.

The filmmakers gained unfettered access to Gaetz, one of Trump’s closest Congressional allies, as well as to Massie, known on Capitol Hill as “Mr. No” due to his independent voting record, and Buck, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. The film particularly focuses on the out-sized effect of lobbyists and special interest groups on how policy gets made.

The film also talks to Congressmen and women on the other side of the aisle, including Ro Khanna and Katie Hill (D-Calif.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.), as well as Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig.

The Swamp is produced by Industrial Media’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) and Calliope Pictures for HBO Documentary Films; written and directed by DiMauro and Pehme. Marc Vives is co-writer and editor while Ben Cortes is associate editor. IPC’s Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman are the film’s executive producers. Pehme, DiMauro, Shirel Kozak, Fredrik Stanton, and Matthew Whitworth produce.

​The Swamp premieres Tuesday, Aug. 4 on HBO and then will be available to stream on HBO Max.

Key art for HBO's 'The Swamp'
Key art for HBO’s ‘The Swamp’

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