Report: Eric Massa under investigation for groping staff

Allegations against former congressman reportedly at least a year old

Published March 9, 2010 8:10PM (EST)

Former Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., has said that the allegations of sexual harassment that drove him to resign from office were limited to a single poorly chosen sentence at a recent wedding. But according to a new report from the Washington Post, there may be much more.

The Post reports that Massa "has been under investigation for allegations that he groped multiple male staffers working in his office." These allegations go back at least a year, the paper says -- that is, back to just about the time when Massa began serving in Congress -- and are about "a pattern of behavior and physical harassment," the Post quotes an unnamed source as saying. Ron Hikel, Massa's former deputy chief of staff, reportedly told the House ethics committee about the allegations three weeks ago.

Since this weekend, when he began saying that White House and Congressional Democrats had pushed him out of Congress because he was a no vote on healthcare reform, Massa has become a hero to some on the right. (Other conservatives, like the Weekly Standard's John McCormack, have been warning their ideological allies away from the former congressman.)  It will be interesting to see how some of those who've embraced him deal with this report. We'll have a chance to observe that in action Tuesday afternoon, when Fox News' Glenn Beck is slated to spend a full hour interviewing Massa.

War Room will be live blogging the interview, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. EST, so don't touch that dial.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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