Fight over sexual misconduct cases in Congress poised to intensify |
Fight over sexual misconduct cases in Congress poised to intensify
The battle over sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill is primed to escalate.
For much of this year, the focus of efforts to curtail sexual wrongdoing has been squarely centered around three figures facing high-profile allegations — Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and Cory Mills (R-Fla.) — which forced the first two to resign from Congress last month.
But more recent revelations that the Ethics Committee is also probing several other members — combined with the news that congressional offices have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to settle similar allegations in the past — have sparked a new wave of protest from victims’ rights advocates in the Capitol, who are now clamoring for accountability, more transparency and an overhaul of the way that lawmakers police themselves.
Those issues are poised to be front and center when the House returns to Washington next week following a long spring recess.
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) will be at the center of the storm. The North Carolina Republican has come under intense scrutiny in recent days following reports in NOTUS and Axios that he allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with female staffers. Axios reported that Edwards, who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, sent personal gifts, including jewelry and a custom puzzle, and a three-page handwritten note to one of them that read, “I only wish I could explain the joy and meaning to me for the time we spent together at the office — but especially away from it.”
Edwards, 65, has denied the allegations, telling The Assembly on Tuesday that, “In the mountains we have to shovel horses‑‑‑. In D.C. I have to deal with horses‑‑‑. And these allegations are more horses‑‑‑.”
But Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who led the charge to expel Gonzales and Swalwell, now has Edwards in her sights, as well. She told Politico that “ANY member of congress engaging in an........