House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) is “entitled to due process” in the wake of recently revealed sexual harassment allegations.
“We are strengthened by due process,” Pelosi said on Meet the Press. “Just because someone is accused – and was it one accusation? Is it two?”
Conyers, who has served in Congress since the 1960s, has been embattled since a BuzzFeed report this week. It revealed that in 2015, he reached a taxpayer-funded settlement in a female staffer’s sexual harassment claim. The alleged victim said he fired her because she turned down his sexual advances.
He denied wrongdoing when news of the settlement popped up.
“My office resolved the allegations — with an express denial of liability — in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation,” he said in a statement. “That should not be lost in the narrative.”
Other recently revealed court documents showed that another staffer tried to sue him in February for “repeatedly and daily” nonconsensual touching. She dropped the complaint after the court refused to leave it sealed. He told the Associated Press he knew nothing about claims of groping.
[Screengrab via NBC]
