The News
Congressional investigators issued a recommendation that the House Ethics Committee dismiss sexual harassment claims against Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., according to what appeared to be a copy of the documents, viewed by Semafor during a FaceTime conversation.
In February, a prospective Santos staffer, Derek Myers, accused the freshman lawmaker of sexual harassment after a short stint in the congressman’s Washington, DC office while he was being considered for a job. Myers recorded conversations between himself, the congressman, and his staff during that period over their decision to reject his hiring, which he leaked to the news site Talking Points Memo. He later filed an ethics complaint based on allegations outside the scope of the recordings.
The allegations were reviewed by the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent government entity charged with looking into complaints made against House members. It urged the House Ethics Committee, a bipartisan panel of House members responsible for investigating alleged violations of House rules and statutes, to dismiss Myers’ claims “because there is not substantial reason to believe that Rep. Santos sexually harassed or discriminated against the complainant.”
Reached by Semafor for comment, Myers declined, saying he was not aware of the decision.
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Reps. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. filed a separate ethics complaint in January urging the House Ethics Committee to investigate Santos’ financial disclosures. He also reportedly faces multiple potential federal and state investigations and has been in touch with Brazilian prosecutors on a deal to settle fraud allegations, CNN reported in March.
Notable
- Santos recently filed to run for re-election in his Long Island district, despite vehement opposition among state and local Republican officials over his fabricated biography and allegations, denied by Santos, that range from defrauding a disabled veteran to potentially violating campaign finance rules.
