A second woman has come forward to charge Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) of sexual harassment. Conyers, 88, settled a complaint in 2015 to the tune of $27,000 with a former staffer who says she got fired for not "succumbing to his advancements." His office reportedly settled it with taxpayer dollars.
Conyers denies the allegations and insists they only settled with the accuser to avoid a court battle.
The second accuser, in a totally separate case, is a former scheduler who claims the Democrat tried to touch her “repeatedly and daily,” according to court documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.
The lawsuit centered on behavior that took place later, from 2015 to 2016, but involves similar allegations. The woman said that shortly after she started to work for Conyers he began to make sexual advances in the form of inappropriate comments and touching.
“These behaviors and actions were so common and pervasive that they created a hostile work environment,” she alleged.
These unwanted advances eventually resulted in “insomnia, anxiety, depression and chest pains.”
Yet, the accuser dropped the lawsuit after a motion to seal the complaint was denied.
“[The former staffer] voluntarily decided to drop her case,” according to a Conyers spokesman.
Another Democrat, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is facing his own set of sexual harassment claims after radio host Leeann Tweeden published photos of him pretending to grope her on a 2006 USO tour. She says he also tried to forcibly kiss her.
The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into Conyers's first settlement case and the Senate Ethics Committee is expecting to look into the Franken incident.