(CNN) — The bipartisan House Ethics Committee said Monday it has found “substantial evidence” that GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards repeatedly made unwanted advances toward two of his female staffers and is recommending that the full House vote to punish him on the floor.
The panel determined “there was substantial reason to believe Representative Edwards violated House Rules related to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces.”
The extraordinary statement, which is the result of a months-long investigation, marks the first time the panel has recommended the House censure one of its own members since 2010.
A censure resolution is one of the most severe forms of punishment in the House, though does not remove a member from the House and carries no explicit penalties beyond a public admonition.
The congressman denied that his behavior was “intended as a sexual or romantic advance,” according to the committee’s report, which also said that it found no evidence that Edwards, 65, “engaged in sexual activity” with the women.
Both women had worked for Edwards when he was a state senator and continued to work for him when he took office in the House of Representatives. The first woman was still in college at that time and worked in the congressional office for around three years. The second woman was in her early 20s when she started work in the congressional office and continued working there for around two and a half years.
Paul Shumaker, a spokesperson and strategist for the Edwards campaign, said in a statement the panel’s findings “completely exonerate Representative Edwards under the House rules governing sexual misconduct or harassment” and that its conclusion showed the congressman “did not violate federal sexual harassment law.”
Edwards, who is running for reelection in North Carolina’s 11th district, “looks forward to having his name cleared and will work to ensure that the full light of day is brought on this process,” the spokesman added.
The 25-page ethics committee report states that Edwards repeatedly acted inappropriately by “personal texts late in the evenings” and buying lavish gifts for the staffers. The purchases included jewelry worth over $1,000, as well as “designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.”
The congressman brought one of the staffers on a trip to New York City where he’d planned a helicopter ride, dinner, and Broadway show to celebrate his birthday. At another point, he paid for one of the women to go to New York City with a friend and bought them tickets to see “Hamilton” after she’d “gone through a breakup.”
For the same woman, Edwards also purchased spa treatments and skipped House votes one night to go to her home and decorate a Christmas tree with her. He later wrote the same woman a poem that he read aloud at her going away party when she left his office “during which he cried.”
In one instance, Edwards arranged for a birthday serenade at the woman’s party and arranged for the singer to say it was “from a special someone.” Afterwards, the woman told her friend that she did not believe the congressman viewed her as “just a daughter figure” and that she was “scared lowkey.”
“The Committee found that Representative Edwards engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers,” the committee said, summing up its findings.
The women, who were not identified in the report, told the committee that they “attempted to communicate” that they were uncomfortable with his behavior, but that they were “put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress.”
Edwards contended that that his relationships with the women were “professional boss-subordinate relationships” and “friendships,” the panel said. But the committee found that he had intentionally deleted some messages to these women that were “particularly inappropriate” — a finding they said was central to their investigation.
“Representative Edwards acknowledged at least some of the behavior at issue could be viewed as inappropriate. However, he has not acknowledged or taken responsibility for the harm he caused,” the report said.
“A Member of Congress should not single out a staffer and isolate them from other staff, make frequent comments regarding that person’s appearance and weight, send messages in the middle of the night, text staff deeply personal and seemingly romantic thoughts, intrude on personal occasions without invitation, pay for personal vacations, and spend thousands of dollars on gifts for staffers.”
“That Representative Edwards did all these things to two young staffers, repeatedly over a sustained period, was beyond inappropriate,” it said.
The House is currently on recess for the month of August with members back in their home districts, so September is likely the earliest a censure effort could be taken up.
The-CNN-Wire
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