Sen. Ben Cardin’s office has parted ways with a staffer who conservative news outlets alleged was shown in a leaked video having sex in a Senate hearing room.
“Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate,” the Maryland Democrat’s office said in a statement to NBC News on Saturday, which was first obtained by Politico. “We will have no further comment on this personnel matter.”
On Friday, The Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet, published what it said was video showing a congressional staffer having “sex with an unknown man in the Senate hearing room.” It added that the video was shared “in a private group for gay men in politics.”
Conservative outlets then alleged that Maese-Czeropski, a legislative aide for Cardin, was one of the men in the video.
NBC News has not confirmed the authenticity of the video or the identities of the participants.
On Friday night, Maese-Czeropski put up a post on LinkedIn saying while he had shown “poor judgement” in the past, he “would never disrespect my workplace.”
“This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda,” he wrote. “While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”
Maese-Czeropski did not return a request for additional comment.
Cardin’s office initially put out a statement Friday that said: “We have seen media reports emanating from the right-wing media. As this is a personnel matter and under review, we will not be commenting further at this time.”
Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, also identified Maese-Czeropski to conservative outlets as the staffer who shouted “Free Palestine!” at him in the halls of Congress while he was speaking with an NBC News reporter. Maese-Czeropski denied the accusation in his LinkedIn post Friday.
“As for the accusations regarding Congressman Max Miller, I have never seen the congressman and had no opportunity or cause to yell or confront him,” he wrote.
NBC News was not able to identify the staffer in the interaction.
Julie Tsirkin contributed.