Former aide accuses George Santos of sexual harassment

A person who briefly labored in Rep. George Santos’ (R-N.Y.) workplace has accused the embattled New York Republican of sexual harassment in a letter despatched to the Home Ethics Committee on Friday.

In a letter that he posted to Twitter, Derek Myers mentioned that he labored in Santos’ workplace for a number of days as a “volunteer” earlier than a job provide to work as a congressional staffer was rescinded on Feb. 1. Within the letter, Myers mentioned he was alone in Santos’ workplace on Jan. 25 and was discussing mail acquired by constituents when the congressman requested him if he had a Grindr account, which is a well-liked homosexual courting app. Santos then instructed him that he had a Grindr profile, in line with the letter.

Myers mentioned Santos then requested him to take a seat subsequent to Santos on a small sofa the place he positioned his hand on Myers knee, interrupting the dialog concerning the mail. Santos requested Myers to exit to karoke that night time, which Myers declined. Santos mentioned that his husband was out of city and that Myers ought to “come over,” in line with the letter, and proceeded to maneuver his hand up Myers’ leg “into my inner-thigh and proceeded to the touch my groin.”

Myers mentioned on Twitter that he additionally filed a police report with the U.S. Capitol Police concerning the incident.

Within the letter, Myers additionally alleges that Santos’ workplace violated Home Ethics procedures by permitting him to work as a volunteer for a number of days beneath the “promise of future employment.”

“I’ve discovered that such volunteer work inside a Congressional workplace with out the proper procedures being adopted is in violation of the Home Ethics and I’m requesting this function an official request for an investigation into the violation of permitting a volunteer to work within the office and offload work from paid stat members onto the volunteer with the promise of future employment,” Myers wrote.

Final 12 months, Myers was charged with wiretapping in Ohio after publishing audio of courtroom testimony that was obtained by a supply within the Scioto Valley Guardian, the place he was the editor-in-chief. Santos instructed Semafor that Myers additionally secretly recorded a dialog he had with Santos.

Santos instructed Semafor that Myers “violated the belief we had in him” by recording the conversations. Santos cited the wiretapping costs as purpose for rescinding the job provide.

Santos workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.