The US senator Ben Cardin said he is “angry” and “disappointed” in a now-former staffer who allegedly recorded himself having sex in a Capitol Hill hearing room.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Maryland Democrat declined to elaborate on either the ex-staffer or the episode, video of which was leaked. But Cardin said he considered the entire sequence “a breach of trust”.
“It’s a tragic situation, and it’s presented a lot of anger and frustration,” he added. “I’m concerned about our staff, and the way that they feel about this, and the Senate staff.”
Cardin also said US Capitol police were investigating the tryst and the footage.
The senator would not confirm the ex-staffer’s identity or whether he had been fired. Cardin would only comment that he is “no longer a Senate employee”.
After the initial report in the Daily Caller, a rightwing news site, Cardin’s office released a statement saying that one of its staffers – Aidan Maese-Czeropski – was “no longer employed by the US Senate”. Maese-Czeropski later posted a statement on his LinkedIn account which read: “This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda.
“While some of my actions in the past have shown poor [judgment], I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace,” Maese-Czeropski’s statement added, according to CBS. “Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”
Maese-Czeropski’s LinkedIn statement has since been deleted.
The video addressed by Cardin showed two men having sex, apparently after hours, in Hart 216, a room that was empty at the time but has hosted Senate judiciary committee hearings, US supreme court nomination hearings and the 9/11 commission.
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The Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar – in whose seat the men in the video were having sex – told Hill journalists that Cardin’s office “is dealing with it” and that she believed the staffer involved had actually been fired.
Her fellow Democratic senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia jokingly told reporters searching for Cardin on Monday to “leave that beautiful man alone”. Republican US senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, another judiciary committee member, sarcastically asked if the chamber was “locking the doors now”, adding after a positive reply: “We do? Thanks.”
Cardin announced in May that he would retire at the end of his third Senate term in early 2025. Before joining the Senate, he had spent 20 years in the US House.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
