Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) partially misled the public on Thursday about the sex scandal involving fellow freshman Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) — who resigned this week — suggesting that the scandal was only over the intimate photos that were leaked of her, which is not true.
“This doesn’t happen to male members in the same way — revenge porn in this respect. It’s horrific,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I don’t think we’re really talking about how targeted and serious this is. We’re talking about a major crime… being committed against her.”
While it is true that Hill may indeed be the victim of revenge porn, Ocasio-Cortez glossed right over the allegations that Hill had a relationship with a female campaign staffer — who has appeared to suggest that Hill mistreated her — and that Hill allegedly had a sexual relationship with a male congressional staffer.
Hill appears to have admitted to having the relationship with the female campaign staffer but has adamantly denied being involved with the congressional staffer.
The problem for Hill relates to the allegation surrounding the congressional staffer because members of Congress are prohibited from having relationships with those who work for them.
The allegation triggered an investigation from the House Ethics Committee, which said in a statement:
The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Katie Hill may have engaged in a sexual relationship with an individual on her congressional staff, in violation of House Rule XXIII, clause 18(a). The Committee, pursuant to Committee Rule 18(a), has begun an investigation and will gather additional information regarding the allegations.
Ocasio-Cortez, and many of Hill’s other allies, have focused on casting Hill only as a victim over the whole incident, ignoring the actual misconduct allegations that were made against her.
Ocasio-Cortez’s assertion that these types of scandals don’t “happen to male members in the same way — revenge porn in this respect” is not an accurate reflection of the scandal because it ignores the allegations of sexual misconduct that have been made against Hill that have nothing to do with the images that were leaked of her.
Numerous men in Congress have resigned over alleged sexual misconduct scandals or have not sought re-election to whichever chamber of Congress that they served over the last decade and scores more in state-level offices have been forced to do the same thing.
Here are 14 examples of men that have been accused of misconduct over the last decade who either resigned or did not seek re-election:
1. Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA); resigned 2018.
The New York Times reported:
A married father of three, Mr. Meehan, 62, had long expressed interest in the personal life of the aide, who was decades younger and had regarded the congressman as a father figure, according to three people who worked with the office and four others with whom she discussed her tenure there.
But after the woman became involved in a serious relationship with someone outside the office last year, Mr. Meehan professed his romantic desires for her — first in person, and then in a handwritten letter — and he grew hostile when she did not reciprocate, the people familiar with her time in the office said.
2. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ); resigned 2017.
Roll Call reported:
Soon after Franks’ announcement, the Associated Press reported that a former Franks staffer said the congressman offered her $5 million to carry his child. The staffer told the AP Franks asked her at least four times to be a surrogate in exchange for money.
House GOP sources told Politico Franks had asked two female staffers to act as surrogates for him and his wife, but it wasn’t clear if the congressman was expecting them to have sexual relations with him. Franks also tried to convince a female aide she was in love with him, according to a former staffer who spoke to Politico. A female staffer said she felt retaliated against after turning Franks down.
3. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI); resigned 2017.
The Washington Post reported:
Facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) resigned as Congress’s longest-serving member Tuesday, becoming the first lawmaker to step down as Capitol Hill grapples with allegations of inappropriate behavior by lawmakers.
Conyers, who represented the Detroit area for 52 years, yielded to mounting pressure from Democratic leaders to step aside as a growing number of female former aides accused him of unwanted advances and mistreatment. He has denied wrongdoing.
4. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX); announced retirement in 2017.
The Dallas Morning News reported:
Rep. Joe Barton, whose private life came under national scrutiny after sexual images he shared in an extramarital relationship were made public, won’t seek re-election…
…He’s faced crushing pressure in recent days after lewd images and suggestive messages he swapped during extramarital relationships surfaced online, an event that prompted a number of women with whom he was involved to speak publicly about their exchanges with Barton.
But unlike other high-profile men who’ve seen their careers crumble recently in politics, Hollywood and the news media, none of Barton’s accusers have said he engaged in sexual harassment or abuse of power.
5. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN); resigned 2018.
The New York Times reported:
Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, in an emotional speech on the Senate floor, announced on Thursday that he would resign from Congress, the most prominent figure in a growing list of lawmakers felled by charges of sexual harassment or indiscretions.
At turns defiant and mournful but hardly contrite, Mr. Franken called it “the worst day of my political life,” as he denied allegations of groping and improper advances from at least six women.
6. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA); resigned 2017.
Politico reported:
Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), the embattled anti-abortion lawmaker who allegedly encouraged his lover to terminate a pregnancy, on Thursday announced his plan to resign from office later this month — just a day after announcing his plan to retire following the 2018 election.
The Pennsylvania Republican’s about-face came after House GOP leaders and senior Republicans upped the pressure on Murphy to step down. Republican sources familiar with Murphy’s thinking said the married father of one child initially believed he could weather a story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, revealing he had sent a series of text messages to his girlfriend — a psychologist half his age — encouraging her to have an abortion. Murphy has been a strongly anti-abortion lawmaker during his 15 years in Congress.
7. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX); resigned 2018.
CNN reported:
Rep. Blake Farenthold announced he’s resigning from the House of Representatives effective Friday, a few months after news broke he used taxpayer money to pay a settlement to a former aide who accused the Texas Republican of sexual harassment and other improper conduct.
After his announcement, the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP candidates to the House, requested he pay back the money that was used for the settlement.
8. Rep. Vance McAllister (R-LA); announced in 2014 that he would not seek re-election.
The New York Times reported:
Representative Vance McAllister, Republican of Louisiana, who was caught on camera kissing a female staff member who was not his wife, will not seek re-election to the seat he has held for only five months, his office said on Monday.
Mr. McAllister, 40, who won a special election in November after pledging to “defend our Christian way of life,” had resisted bowing to demands that he step down after a video of him kissing the aide late last year appeared this month on the website of The Ouachita Citizen, a weekly newspaper.
9. Rep. David Wu (D-OR); resigned 2011.
The Washington Post reported:
Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) announced Tuesday that he will resign from Congress, four days after a report that a young woman called his office complaining of an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the congressman…
…The congressman, who said he will formally resign at the conclusion of the debt-limit debate, had said Monday that he would not seek reelection next year. But congressional leaders had called for an ethics investigation, and both of his home state’s Democratic senators on Tuesday morning called for his resignation.
10. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY); resigned 2011.
The New York Times reported:
Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a once-promising politician whose Brooklyn roots and scrappy style made him a leading candidate to be the next mayor of New York, resigned his seat on Thursday, ending a three-week scandal over his lewd online behavior that startled his constituents and alienated many of his colleagues.
Mr. Weiner made the decision after long and emotional discussions with his political advisers and his wife, Huma Abedin, whom friends described as devastated by the behavior of her husband of 11 months, and worried about the couple’s financial future.
11. Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY); resigned 2011.
ABC News reported:
…the gossip website Gawker posted a story that included the e-mails allegedly exchanged between Lee and the unnamed woman. According to the story, a single 34-year-old woman from Maryland posted an ad on Craigslist’s “Women for Men” section on Jan. 14. Soon afterwards a man named Christopher Lee replied, identifying himself as a 39-year-old divorced lobbyist.
In the exchange that followed, Lee reportedly sent the woman an e-mail including a photo of Lee with his shirt off, flexing his arms and chest. The woman later broke off her correspondence with Lee after she did an online search for him and determined that he had lied about his age and his job, the Gawker story reported.
12. Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY); resigned 2010.
Politico reported:
Democratic Rep. Eric Massa will resign from Congress on Monday, only days after reports first surfaced that the freshman New York lawmaker was under investigation by the House ethics committee for allegedly sexually harassing a male staffer.
13. Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN); resigned 2010.
Fox News reported:
Eight-term Indiana Rep. Mark Souder announced his resignation Tuesday after admitting to an affair with a female aide who worked in his district office.
Souder, a Republican, will will step down on Friday. He said in remarks obtained by Fox News that he “sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff.”
14. Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-NV); announced in 2017 that he would not seek re-election.
NPR reported:
Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., who has been haunted for two weeks by allegations of sexual harassment, said Saturday that he will not seek re-election in 2018.
Kihuen’s announcement comes a day after the House Ethics Committee said it has opened an investigation looking into the allegations leveled at the 37-year-old freshman congressman by a former campaign aide.