A New York Republican lawmaker is accused of rubbing a woman’s back under pressure and unplugging her bra while drunk at a Minneapolis pub in 2017
U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican from western New York, is accused of rubbing the back of a pressure woman and disconnecting her bra, without her consent, at a networking event at a Minneapolis pub in 2017.
Lobbyist Nicolette Davis told The Washington Post that Reed appeared to be drunk as he kicked him in the back and leg while the two sat side by side during a networking trip. .
Reed swept the bra before squeezing the brooch through the blouse and taking it off, then moved her hand to her thigh, she said.
A frightened Davis, who was 25 and on her first trip as a junior lobbyist for insurance company Aflac, sent a text message to a friend and co-worker that “a drunk congressman is rubbing my back “.
“HELP HELP,” he sent a text message before the person sitting next to him responded to his request by taking Reed out of the restaurant, according to his account, posted Friday.
Reed, elected to Congress in 2010, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press. In a statement issued by his office, he said: “This account of my actions is not accurate.”
Reed has been one of members of Congress calling for the resignation of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on charges of sexual harassment. In late February, Reed said he was seriously considering choosing to rule against Cuomo.
Davis, now a 29-year-old second lieutenant in the U.S. military in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, contacted The Post via a tip line on Feb. 11, the newspaper said.
Davis said he’s talking while thinking about the kind of section chief he wants to be after graduating from the field artillery school later this month.
“I need to always act with a good conscience and set the right example for the soldiers I will lead, including younger women,” she said. “I hope it will allow people who have had similar experiences to feel confident enough to say something.”
His story was corroborated by the friend to whom Davis sent a text message to the restaurant, Jessica Strieter Elting, who heads the Aflac political affairs team in Washington, DC.
Strieter Elting told The Post that Davis was shaken by the encounter.
“I felt horrible for her to be in that position while trying to do her job,” Strieter Elting said.
Davis also reported the incident, at the time, to his company supervisor, then-vice president and director Brad Knox.
Knox said he remembered Davis telling him Reed had been drinking and had undone an item of his clothes. He said he declined when asked if he wanted to file a complaint with the House Ethics Committee.
Reed is a former mayor of Corning, New York. In Congress, he co-chairs the Problem Solver Caucus, whose 24 members are Republicans and 24 Democrats meet weekly on issues.
In response to the #MeToo movement, Reed said training in sexual harassment was a basic requirement in his office and that he had taken it. He also supported bipartisan legislation in 2018 that required lawmakers to respond personally to agreements stemming from harassment.
The statement provided by Reed’s office said, “I keep my history.”
Commenting on the allegations against Cuomo last month, Reed had said, “These incidents of sexual harassment and patterns of abuse are horrible and have absolutely no place in our society, let alone at the highest rungs of government.”