Chuck Edwards writes letter defending himself against sexual harassment allegations

North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards (R) on Wednesday issued a letter to fellow lawmakers denouncing the Ethics Committee report that found he engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two younger female staff members.

“The report repeatedly relies upon interactions that it says ‘could be interpreted as romantic.’ But something that could be interpreted as romantic is worlds apart from establishing an unwanted sexual advance. An affectionate friendship is not a sexual proposition. A gift is not sexual misconduct. A compliment is not sexual misconduct. Poetry is not sexual misconduct,” read the letter to his colleagues first obtained by NOTUS .

“Socializing with a colleague is not sexual misconduct. Caring deeply about someone with whom you have worked and come to know for years is not sexual misconduct. Yet individual acts that were not themselves prohibited were gathered together, assigned the most damaging possible interpretation, and then used collectively to support a conclusion far more serious than the underlying evidence,” Edwards said in the letter.

The letter comes as the full House is preparing to vote on the Ethics Committee’s recommendation to censure Edwards. The vote could be held as early as next week.

The Hill has reached out to Edwards’s office for comment.

Investigators on the Ethics Committee reviewed roughly 1,500 pages of evidence and interviewed 16 witnesses. The complaints detailed lavish gifts, jewelry, a trip to New York City to see “Hamilton,” personal late-night text messages, comments on the staffers’ appearances and an instance where Edwards read an original poem at a going-away party.

The committee stated it did not find that Edwards engaged in explicit sexual activity or quid pro quo propositions but concluded his behavior violated House standards against sexual harassment and created a hostile work environment.

Earlier this month, Edwards dropped his bid for reelection over the allegations of sexual assault. State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom (R-N.C.) picked up the torch after being tapped by the 11th Congressional District’s Republican committee to replace Edwards on the ballot.

Edwards has urged his colleagues to determine if the report presented by the Ethics Committee shows evidence establishing misconduct or “inference being used to bridge the absence of evidence.”

In his letter, he writes that there are no House rules prohibiting members of Congress and staff from being friends, spending social time together or “genuinely and deeply caring” about each other.

“Those distinctions matter. Otherwise, perfectly permissible conduct can become evidence of wrongdoing simply by accumulating enough examples of it and assigning them an improper motive,” the letter reads.

“Ten permissible acts do not become misconduct merely because they are placed together in ten paragraphs,” it continues.

Edwards writes some gifts were used as “job-related tools” and argues that he gave to both male and female staffers “olive oil, cookware, rum, Kennedy Center tickets and even a handgun.”

Meanwhile, the lawmaker writes staffers also gave him “a custom-made NFL jersey, bourbon and whiskey, custom throw blankets, whiskey glasses, a taxidermy animal, a planned skydiving trip, wall plaques and other gifts.”