GOP congressman Chuck Edwards melted down after his colleagues voted to censure him over his creepy treatment of two young female staffers.
Edwards, 65, vented his frustrations on X following the Republican-majority House’s near-unanimous vote to censure him on Tuesday, saying that he does “not accept the conclusion” produced by his colleagues.
“The Committee found no sexual activity, no proposition, no quid pro quo, and no violation of federal sexual harassment law,” the North Carolina representative wrote. “It then crossed the gap between those facts and a finding of sexual harassment through inference.”
“I believe that conclusion was wrong yesterday, I believe it is wrong today, and a vote does not make it right,” he added.
Edwards said sexual harassment “should be treated seriously” but that “ordinary acts of friendship, generosity, encouragement, or compassion” should not be redefined as such, and that the House setting that precedent was “deeply troubling.”
“I have apologized for where my judgment fell short. But I will not confess to conduct I did not commit simply to make this moment easier,” the congressman continued.
He concluded: “The House has spoken. So have I. I will leave this chapter with my head held high and finish the job Western North Carolina sent me here to do.”
The chamber voted 413-2 on Tuesday to censure Edwards following the House Ethics Committee’s recommendation. He and South Carolina GOP Rep. Ralph Norman cast the only nay votes.
The congressman then stood in the well of the chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson read the resolution against him.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Edwards’ office for comment.
The Ethics Committee determined last month that there was “substantial evidence” that Edwards had engaged in “unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers.
The two women, referred to as Staffer 1 and Staffer 2 in the report, were 19 and in their early 20s, respectively, when they began working for the congressman. The women and other current and former staffers testified that Edwards gave the pair preferential treatment.
The committee found that Edwards showered the two staffers with lavish gifts, wrote them mushy personal letters, took them out to fancy private dinners, and even talked to them about going to strip clubs.
The report also found that the congressman’s claims that he had “professional boss-subordinate relationships” with the two women were undermined by his intentional deletion of messages to them that were “particularly inappropriate.”
“Often, the text messages produced by Representative Edwards omitted messages in such a way to create the appearance that the women were initiating contact, he was not responding, or they were expressing greater interest in conversing with him than he was with them,” the report said.
Both women testified that Edwards’ behavior was “highly unprofessional... and/or gave the appearance of a sexual or romantic advance,” and ultimately forced them to leave his office.
Edwards canceled his re-election campaign shortly after the allegations came to light, and the panel recommended his censure.
