Hoyer, Pelosi Aides Questioned in Ethics Case

Congressional investigators have questioned House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and aides to Speaker Nancy Pelosi as part of a probe into whether top Democrats covered up information that ex-Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed male employees.
The FBI has also been drawn into the Massa case, apparently by reports last weekend about a $40,000 check from the former congressman’s campaign fund to his former chief of staff, who has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Massa, said an attorney involved in the case.
The House Ethics Committee formally opened its investigation on Wednesday. A four-member panel of the evenly divided committee questioned Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat’s office said. In February, Hoyer’s staff learned of the allegations against Massa, and Hoyer demanded that Massa’s aides take them to the ethics panel.
Five months earlier, Massa’s chief of staff met with an aide to Pelosi to complain about the conduct of Massa, D-N.Y. Pelosi aides have insisted that those discussions did not include the sexual harassment allegations.

Read more: (Larry Margasak, “Hoyer, Pelosi Aides Questioned in Ethics Case,” Associated Press, 04/22/10)