A man who briefly worked in Rep. George Santos’ (R-N.Y.) office has accused the embattled New York Republican of sexual harassment in a letter sent to the House Ethics Committee on Friday.
In a letter that he posted to Twitter, Derek Myers said that he worked in Santos’ office for a few days as a “volunteer” before a job offer to work as a congressional staffer was rescinded on Feb. 1. In the letter, Myers said he was alone in Santos’ office on Jan. 25 and was discussing mail received by constituents when the congressman asked him if he had a Grindr account, which is a popular gay dating app. Santos then told him that he had a Grindr profile, according to the letter.
Myers said Santos then asked him to sit next to Santos on a small couch where he placed his hand on Myers knee, interrupting the conversation about the mail. Santos asked Myers to go out to karoke that night, which Myers declined. Santos said that his husband was out of town and that Myers should “come over,” according to the letter, and proceeded to move his hand up Myers’ leg “into my inner-thigh and proceeded to touch my groin.”
Myers said on Twitter that he also filed a police report with the U.S. Capitol Police about the incident.
In the letter, Myers also alleges that Santos’ office violated House Ethics procedures by allowing him to work as a volunteer for several days under the “promise of future employment.”
“I have learned that such volunteer work within a Congressional office without the correct procedures being followed is in violation of the House Ethics and I am requesting this serve as an official request for an investigation into the violation of allowing a volunteer to work in the workplace and offload work from paid stat members onto the volunteer with the promise of future employment,” Myers wrote.
Last year, Myers was charged with wiretapping in Ohio after publishing audio of courtroom testimony that was obtained by a source in the Scioto Valley Guardian, where he was the editor-in-chief. Santos told Semafor that Myers also secretly recorded a conversation he had with Santos.
Santos told Semafor that Myers “violated the trust we had in him” by recording the conversations. Santos cited the wiretapping charges as reason for rescinding the job offer.
Santos office did not respond to a request for comment.