House Ethics Panel Seeks Censure of GOP Lawmaker

A congressman from North Carolina is facing formal rebuke after a House panel found his treatment of young aides crossed the line. The House Ethics Committee on Monday said Rep. Chuck Edwards engaged in unwanted sexual advances toward two female staffers and urged the full House to censure him, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a 25-page report, the bipartisan committee said there was "substantial reason" to believe Edwards violated rules on sexual harassment and maintaining a safe workplace. The bipartisan committee confirmed in May that it was investigating the Republican.

Investigators detailed late-night texts with personal and apparently romantic content, repeated remarks about the women's looks and weight, uninvited appearances at personal events, paid vacations, and thousands of dollars in gifts. In one incident, Edwards allegedly hired a singer to serenade a staffer for her birthday; she later told a friend she was "scared low-key," per the report. "That Representative Edwards did all these things to two young staffers, repeatedly over a sustained period, was beyond inappropriate," the report states.

• "Both women were uncomfortable with his behavior (which they attempted to communicate) but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress," the committee said in its report, per the AP. "Representative Edwards was at minimum blind to that reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had on the careers and well-being of two women on his staff." Both staffers left Edwards' office, one of them after learning of rumors that she was having an affair with the lawmaker, the report said.

The panel noted it can only recommend disciplinary action, not impose it. Edwards, first elected to the House in 2022, is seeking reelection and easily won his primary in North Carolina's 11th District earlier this year. He has previously denied wrongdoing. The committee said he cooperated with the investigation but has not acknowledged the harm he caused, the AP reports. With the House on its summer recess, a vote on censure is unlikely to happen before September at the earliest, NBC News reports.