Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 22 november 2017

Michigan Rep. Conyers acknowledges sex harassment settlement

By COREY WILLIAMS him. statement Tuesday after- Conyers’ office paid a
Associated Press His office “resolved the alle- noon that the panel was woman more than $27,000
DETROIT (AP) — Longtime gations” ... “for an amount opening an investigation under a confidentiality
Michigan Rep. John Cony- that equated to a reason- into the allegations, includ- agreement to settle a com-
ers acknowledged Tues- able severance payment,” ing whether Conyers used plaint in 2015 that she was
day that his office settled the 88-year-old Detroit official resources for imper- fired from his Washington
a harassment complaint in- Democrat said in a state- missible personal purposes. staff because she rejected
volving a former staffer but ment. Conyers said he would fully his sexual advances.
said he “vehemently” de- The leaders of the House cooperate. BuzzFeed also published
nies the allegations against Ethics Committee said in a BuzzFeed reported that affidavits from former staff

In this July 7, 2014 file photo,
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-
Mich., speaks in Detroit. The
longtime Michigan Congress-
man on Tuesday, Nov. 21,
2017, denied settling a sexual
harassment complaint in 2015
from a woman who alleged
she was fired from his Wash-
ington staff because she re-
jected his sexual advances.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

members who said they
had witnessed Conyers
touching female staffers
inappropriately — rubbing
their legs and backs — or
requesting sexual favors.
One former staffer said
one of her duties was “to
keep a list of women that
I assumed he was hav-
ing affairs with and call
them at his request and,
if necessary, have them
flown in using Congres-
sional resources.” When
questioned at his home
Tuesday morning by The
Associated Press, Conyers
denied settling any harass-
ment complaint and other
allegations of inappropri-
ate touching of staffers.
The reporter repeated to
Conyers the claims made
in the BuzzFeed report.
“I have been looking at
these things in amaze-
ment,” Conyers said, refer-
ring to allegations of sexual
harassment and assault
being made against politi-
cians and others.
A statement from Conyers’
office said he was under
the impression the AP re-
porter was speaking Tues-
day of “recent allegations
of which he was unaware
of and denied.” “In this
case, I expressly and ve-
hemently denied the alle-
gations made against me,
and continue to do so,”
Conyers said later Tuesday
in his statement about the
settlement.q