by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News December 17, 2023
A staffer for Maryland Democrat Sen. Ben Cardin been fired after a gay sex tape filmed in a Senate hearing room went viral online.
Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was sacked Saturday afternoon, less than a day after a video showing two men having sex in a Senate room was exposed. The room is familiar to many who follow Senate proceedings as it has been used in the past for Supreme Court nominee and impeachment hearings.
A spokesperson for Cardin said: “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate. We will have no further comment on this matter.”
Maese-Czeropski, who appeared in a 2020 campaign video with Joe Biden, insisted in a LinkedIn post that he wasn’t disrespecting his workplace: “This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda. 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.”
Footage of the incident, which was first reported by The Daily Caller, shows a male staffer bent over in a conference room in the Hart Senate Office Building. Another man stands behind him, filming the sex act they’re performing in X-rated detail. The staffer is seen in a separate picture naked and on all fours on a table where Senators often sit and ask questions during hearings.”
The footage was allegedly shared in a private group for gay men in the political scene, and reportedly appeared on a since-deleted account on X. The poster of the video identifies himself as a “twink” (young, smooth-bodied gay man) engaging in sex acts with his older “bear” partner.
Maese-Czeropski is the same congressional staffer who confronted Jewish congressman Max Miller to say, “Free Palestine,” Miller told the Daily Caller.
According to his LinkedIn, Maese-Czeropski has worked in Cardin’s office since October 2021, and previously worked as a field organizer for the Democratic Party in Virginia and as a climate researcher for charity Friends of the Earth.
As far as legal ramifications, law professor Jonathan Turley said the Capitol police “could argue that this constitutes purloining or using government property for personal purposes. The key factor is the fact that this videotape was made with the apparent intent to publish or to distribute. Sex in congressional offices — by both members and staff — have long been known to occur on Capitol Hill. Yet, this was a public hearing room, albeit closed at the time, and a tape made for what appears public viewing.”
Turley continued: “That brings us back to trespass. The question may be whether this was access under legal authority for a staffer. The Capitol police can argue that access to a staff position does not mean a license for entry for any purpose. Under 18 U.S.C. 1752, trespass covers anyone who “knowingly enters or remains in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so.”
Does a staffer have legal authority to enter any hearing room for any purpose?
“That could be a defense raised by counsel, but it would seem likely that any access is premised on an official function,” Turley wrote.
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