In a report shared with Congressional members Aug. 3, the committee said its investigation found the North Carolina Republican engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female staffers” that included unprofessional late-night texting and arranging for private dinners together.

While Edwards denied his actions were intended as sexual or romantic advances, the committee said, “his pattern of behavior would lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such.”

Those actions, the report said, included giving the young women “lavish and recurrent” gifts, commenting on their dress and appearance, sending notes expressing “effusive affection” and inviting them on vacations and other activities that would permit time together.

It’s the first time the committee has recommended censure since 2010, when it scolded former Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) over improper fundraising, financial disclosures and failure to pay taxes on rental income for a Caribbean vacation home.

Rangel, who relinquished his position as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee amid the inquiry, was eventually censured, the first time a congressman had been thusly reprimanded in public in almost three decades.

A Republican who served in the North Carolina Senate before his election to Congress in 2022, Edwards, 65, has been married to his wife, Teresa Edwards, since 1980. The two ran an outfit overseeing several McDonald’s franchise locations in Western North Carolina until selling the franchises in July.

Monday’s report said the committee found no evidence that Edwards engaged in sexual activity or explicitly propositioned any of his staff. However, it said the congressman was aware his “excessive attention toward the young women” had prompted office rumors and innuendo.

The investigation found both women had received numerous gifts from Edwards, including jewelry, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, a KitchenAid mixer, a robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.

In one instance, the report said, he paid for a singer to show up at a birthday party for one of the young women to croon Ed Sheeran’s “Hills of Aberfeldy” and say it was “a special someone.”

The committee report said both women tried to indicate their discomfort with Edwards’ behavior “but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status” as their boss and as a U.S. Congressman.

“Representative Edwards was at minimum blind to that reality and, at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had on the careers and wellbeing of two women on his staff,” the report said.

Relevant messages were missing from material Edwards turned over, according to the report. The committee said some text chains were incomplete in ways that made the women appear more interested in communicating with Edwards than he was with them. Edwards testified that he sometimes deleted messages that might be misinterpreted or cause resentment.

The investigation, which included 16 witness interviews and review of nearly 1,500 pages of documents, concluded there was “substantial reason” to believe Edwards had violated House rules regarding sexual harassment and hostile workplaces.

Edwards disputed the committee’s conclusions and its proposed sanction in a 15-page response. His attorneys argued no staffer filed a complaint, the committee bypassed procedures that would have allowed Edwards to challenge evidence and the report did not establish a direct violation of federal sexual harassment law or House rules specifically governing sexual misconduct.

The ethics committee said it had been informed of the allegations involving Edwards shortly after releasing a public statement in April encouraging anyone with information about sexual misconduct by a House member or staffer to come forward.

It said the congressman had reviewed a draft of the report several days earlier and, while disagreeing with its findings, agreed to waive certain procedural steps to allow the recommendation to censure to immediately move forward.

Contributing: Sarah Wire, USA TODAY