The man who acted as former Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s regional political director for O’Rourke’s Texas senatorial campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has been accused of rape by a former intern for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
As Buzzfeed News reports, the young woman was 19 when the alleged rape by Damien Jones, who served as the CBCF’s intern coordinator, occurred in 2015. The woman initially eschewed legal action against Jones, although she reported the alleged rape to police and others, including Rep. Terri Sewell, her former boss. But later, while working for Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the chair of the board of CBCF, the woman changed her mind and wanted to initiate legal action, according to Buzzfeed. The woman says that in March 2018, she informed Jackson Lee’s chief of staff, Glenn Rushing, about the alleged rape and requested a meeting with Jackson Lee about it, but that never eventuated. She claims that several weeks after her request she was fired.
After being alerted to the Buzzfeed story, a spokesperson for the O’Rourke campaign emailed BuzzFeed News, “The Beto for Texas campaign was absolutely not aware of these allegations until today and no longer has a relationship with Damien Jones.”
As The Washington Free Beacon reports, adumbrating the complaint filed by the woman, who is identified as “Jane Doe”:
On Oct. 24, 2015, Jones invited Jane Doe to dinner, where she says he ordered a large quantity of drinks. She alleged that he then took her back to his home, poured more drinks, and that her memory became foggy about the rest of the night. She said she sent a series of text messages to a friend that night including, “Help,” “I’m want t[sic] to go home,” and “I’m ready to cry,” and told the friend she was with the intern coordinator but did not know where she was.
The woman said she remembered Jones engaging in sexual activity with her, including forcing her to perform oral sex. In the complaint she said she did not consent to any sexual activity. The next morning, she said she woke up naked in Jones’ bed “with his arms and legs around her,” and left. She said she experienced pain in her vagina and elsewhere on her body.
The Free Beacon adds that Jane Doe claims that the same day of the alleged incident, she texted Jones asking what had transpired, and he answered, , “Nothing. You threw up everywhere. That’s it.” Reportedly instructing her to call him when she queried why she had been naked, he allegedly said he removed her clothes but denied any sexual encounter.
The Free Beacon notes that Jones has vacillated wildly as to how to see women. Here’s a tweet in which he speaks of respecting women, writing, “Stop using our women for their bodies and highlight their minds. Respect a womans right to celibacy and her right to say no. Be a real man.”
Yet before and after that tweet, there were tweets like these: