Congressional staffer fired after leaked sex tape filmed in Senate hearing room

A congressional staffer has reportedly been fired after footage featuring him and another man seemingly having sex in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill was leaked online.

The eight-second clip was published by the Daily Caller alongside an article penned by Henry Rodgers, who reported that the video was initially shared in a group chat for gay men in politics. The video appears to show a pair of men copulating in Hart 216, the same room where the 9/11 commission hearings were held and former FBI Director James Comey delivered testimony about Donald Trump in 2017, according to Politico.

While the Daily Caller did not identify those involved, conservative outlets named Aidan Maese-Czropski, an aide to Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., as one of the participants.

In a somewhat cryptic post shared on LinkedIn, Maese-Czropski on Friday acknowledged that while “some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement,” he would “never disrespect [his] workplace.” He did not specifically reference the video.

“This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda,” Maese-Czropski said, adding, “Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”

Cardin’s office initially declined to comment on the video, calling it a “personnel matter.” But on Saturday, it confirmed to Politico that Maese-Czropski “is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate,” adding that it will not comment further on the matter.

According to his LinkedIn, Maese-Czeropski has worked in Cardin’s office since October 2021. He previously worked as a field organizer for the Democratic Party in Virginia and as a climate researcher for the charity Friends of the Earth.