George Santos Now Accused of Groping Former Aide

Aide had been working on a volunteer basis until his job offer was rescinded
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2023 12:55 AM CST
George Santos Now Accused of Groping Former Aide
FILE - Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., leaves a House GOP conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 25, 2023. Santos told colleagues in a closed-door meeting Tuesday that he is temporarily stepping down from his two congressional committees.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The latest scandal for George Santos: alleged sexual harassment. The controversial congressman is now accused of behaving inappropriately toward Derek Myers, who was briefly a prospective congressional aide in Santos' office before his job offer was rescinded last week, the New York Times reports. Myers sent a letter, which he also posted to Twitter Friday, to the House Committee on Ethics in which he said that on Jan. 25, while alone with Santos in his office, Santos asked him if he had a profile on gay dating app Grindr, and said that he himself had an account there.

Myers, who says he's also filed a police report on the matter, says Santos later moved his hand up Myers' thigh to his groin and invited him to karaoke, saying Santos' husband was out of town, Axios reports. A member of the House Ethics Committee confirms that her office received Myers' letter. Five days after the alleged groping, Myers was called in to a meeting with Santos and his chief of staff. Suspecting he was about to be let go, Myers recorded the conversation; that "bizarre audio file" was released by Talking Points Memo on Thursday, before Myers revealed his sexual harassment allegations.

His job offer had been rescinded due to wiretapping charges filed against Myers in Ohio last year; he ran a newspaper in the state that published audio of courtroom testimony recorded by someone else and sent to Myers. Journalism organizations, citing press freedom, have called for the charges to be dropped, and Myers says he had disclosed the charges to hiring managers before being offered the job in the first place. Myers also says he was told he'd work as a volunteer in Santos' office while his employment paperwork was processed, which he now believes was a violation of House ethics rules. (A reporter recently followed Santos around for 16 hours.)

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