GOP Rep. Luna accuses Sen. Ruben Gallego of misconduct; Gallego calls allegations “conspiracy theories”
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida accused Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of misconduct on Thursday, which Gallego denied.
Luna informed CBS News’ “The Takeout with Major Garrett” that the Arizona Democrat was the beforehand unnamed senator whom she mentioned was dealing with “very disturbing” allegations in a cryptic social media publish earlier this week.
A Gallego spokesperson informed CBS News on Thursday: “These are right wing conspiracy theories being parroted by a fringe far right member of Congress. Senator Gallego has not received notification or been contacted by the ethics committee.”
CBS News has not verified the allegations.
Luna didn’t give a lot element concerning the allegations, however she mentioned some of them are “sexual in nature” and a few of them contain alleged marketing campaign finance violations. She additionally mentioned Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s workplace confirmed to her that the matter is underneath investigation.
Luna referred to Gallego as a senator “who was very closely tied to Eric Swalwell,” a House Democrat who resigned from Congress this week following sexual misconduct allegations.
Luna mentioned “there is a woman who is allegedly coming forward with attorneys [and] wants to go on-record about an incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time, and the event was sexual in nature, allegedly.”
Pressed for additional particulars, Luna added that “I think any time that you are knowingly engaging in purchasing someone for sex, that that is something that should be taken seriously.”
Gallego has strongly denied wrongdoing in latest days. He informed reporters earlier this week he has by no means engaged in any sexual misconduct or different inappropriate conduct with employees or girls exterior of his marriage.
Gallego — who was pals with Swalwell however later known as for his expulsion from Congress — acknowledged earlier this week that he was conscious of rumors of Swalwell performing “flirty.” But he later mentioned that he’d “never heard current accusations of harassment of staff or predatory behavior toward staff.” Gallego additionally mentioned he “fell for the lies.”
Hours earlier than Luna named Gallego, Thune informed reporters that he did not know whether or not the congresswoman’s allegations of “very disturbing” conduct had been credible, however he mentioned it had been referred to the Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics. CBS News has reached out to the ethics panel for remark.
The saga comes simply days after Swalwell and his former GOP colleague, Rep. Tony Gonzales, formally resigned from the House inside hours of one another as stress mounted to expel them from the decrease chamber. Swalwell has been accused of sexual assault and sending unsolicited nude pictures, and Gonzales has been accused of having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
Moon you have been outspoken about the necessity to crack down on allegations of misconduct, telling CBS News earlier this week that she expects different rulings to face related stress.
Christian Peña, Alan He and Nikole Killion contributed to this report.
