Actor Chris Evans blasted a video to members of Congress late Friday night offering new clues about his secret, non-partisan civic engagement project, which he is calling “A Starting Point.”
The star best known as “Captain America” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been spotted roaming the halls of the Capitol and popping up on the Twitter feed of politicians like California Rep. Eric Swalwell — creating rumors about his new project.
Evans’ video invitation to Congressional members from both parties, which was obtained by CNN, asks them to participate in interviews for a civic engagement website that will be aimed at reducing partisanship and promoting respectful discourse.
His idea for the website came from his own search for a straightforward source of information on the issues without any spin: “I just thought, ‘Why isn’t there a place I can go to hear both sides of an issue in a succinct way that I can trust?'” the actor notes in his video.
“It’s a one-stop shop for simple digestable information from people who know best,” Evans explains in the video. He tells members that he will send them a list of questions covering dozens of issues, and that he will allow them to choose the questions they want to answer and then attach two or three links that the members provide for viewers to do further research.
“I want to make it clear that this website has nothing to do with my political opinion,” Evans says in the video invitation to members. “It’s not about my political opinion. This is about yours. This is a chance for you to talk about issues that matter to you.”
Evans’ representatives had no comment on the project or when it would be launched.
In this hyper-charged partisan environment, Evans has already interviewed a full slate of Republicans and Democrats including Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey; Republican Sens. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Jim Risch of Idaho and Tim Scott of South Carolina; and Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu and Swalwell, both of California.
As Evans talks to members about keeping their answers to a minute, there are cameos in the video that show his introductory meetings in Washington with high profile figures including Booker, Scott, Murkowski, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, California Rep. Katie Porter and Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas.
Swalwell, a potential 2020 presidential candidate, revealed in a March Twitter post that he’d been interviewed by Evans for “his new civil engagement project” and complimented the actor’s interview style, which he described as “straight to the point, no BS, and just the real.”
