It has been a frequent aphorism of mine that if you can imagine something, there’s someone who’ll try it — someone crazy enough, inspired enough, stupid enough, debased enough, whatever.
The actual fact is, if you can imagine something, it’s probably already been tried, at least twice.
Which seems to be the case once again, as reports of a second sex tape filmed on Capitol Hill hit the news on Wednesday, this time being scooped by Semafor.
It’s been less than a week since The Daily Caller reported on the first video Friday, which appeared to show a sexual encounter between to men that was filmed in the Hart Senate Office Building and resulted in an investigation by Capitol Police and the resignation or dismissal of Aidan Maese-Czeropski, a legislative aide to Maryland’s Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat.
Now the accusations involve the other side of the aisle and the other chamber of Congress, although the situation is decidedly different this time around in more ways than just those.
This time, Rep. Dan Newhouse’s office confirmed reports of “purported, unbecoming behavior” in the office, but noted that the investigation into these allegations had already been completed for some time.
That investigation uncovered “no conclusive evidence” of the claims, Newhouse’s spokesperson told Semafor.
“As soon as the office was alerted, we immediately contacted the appropriate House entities to conduct an independent investigation,” the spokesperson for Newhouse said.
“[T]he office will not be providing further comment on personnel matters,” they added.
Should anyone associated with this sort of activity at the Capitol face criminal charges?
Which is fine, because the individual involved — a “senior staffer” whom Semafor declined to identify further, other than referring to him as “he” — had plenty of comment to make.
The staffer said he was told in June of last year that he was the subject of an investigation, but only a month later was told by Newhouse himself that it had uncovered “no evidence to the allegation” and the matter was considered closed.
A few months later, he told Semafor, he left the congressman’s office “on good terms” for a job outside of D.C. The staffer said his departure had nothing to do with the accusation or the investigation into them.
Newhouse, Semafor noted, had only good things to say — at least publicly — when the staffer’s new job was announced.
All of that said, however, the fact remains that other video material involving explicit sex acts in the Capitol Building do exist, according to Semafor, which claims to have viewed one and to have seen at least a screen shot of another.
The participants’ faces are not visible in any of the material Semafor reviewed. (Based on the outlet’s descriptions, which I will not regurgitate here, their faces may have been the only portion of their anatomy not readily visible.)
The setting, however, was confirmed by “standard Capitol House furniture and carpeting” and the presence in at least one shot of a “branded congressional mouse pad.”
While it appears that the investigation into these incidents has been closed without result, the investigation into the more recent video involved Sen. Cardin’s aide reportedly remains ongoing.
