A claim was made that a congressman does not hold public office? Or at least cannot be called that because they are in the legislative branch. I am interested to learn more about that.

Also, I had just posted on 18USC2071 w/o seeing this conversation. I wish I would have seen this conversation first. I may need to amend or delete my answer and do some research into the jurisdictions and oversight. Despite it being a House speech, this code may still have validity, so I’ll leave the my interpretations in the answer up for the time being, but may reference David Schwartz’s points and references

If you want to learn more about that, use any search engine. Search for "public officer of the united states" or start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officer_of_the_United_States

Also, the idea that 18 USC 2071 applies to any government employee destroying any government document is so absurd as to not merit serious consideration. Were that correct, our nation would be filled with warehouses.