Rep. John Conyers, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is the latest powerful figure to be hit by a sexual misconduct scandal.
Buzzfeed obtained documentation of the settlement of a 2015 wrongful dismissal complaint against Conyers, the longest-serving member of the House.
The Hill has been abuzz over the past several days after it was revealed some unnamed members of Congress had had to settle such claims.
The Buzzfeed report includes documents appearing to confirm the settlement of multiple allegations of sexual advances towards female staffers in his office.
Conyers denied to the AP that he had settled any such claims.
But the push for an investigation had already begun, including from his own party.
“The reports about Congressman Conyers are as serious as they get," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). "The Committee on Ethics should take up this matter immediately with a goal of promptly assessing the validity of the news account. This reported behavior cannot be tolerated in the House of Representatives or anywhere else.”
The Conyers story follows the admission by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) that he had acted inappropriately on a USO trip. An ethics investigation of that incident will be conducted, which Franken has said he supports.
Conyers is a familiar name in communications circles given that Judiciary shares oversight of the sector, including antitrust, copyright, privacy, cameras in the court and network neutrality issues.
