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{"id":26880,"date":"2026-08-19T16:18:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/jimmy-gomez-is-being-investigated-for-sexual-harassment-and-assault-according-to-lawyers-for-woman-interviewed-by-the-ethics-committee\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T16:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:18:04","slug":"jimmy-gomez-is-being-investigated-for-sexual-harassment-and-assault-according-to-lawyers-for-woman-interviewed-by-the-ethics-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/jimmy-gomez-is-being-investigated-for-sexual-harassment-and-assault-according-to-lawyers-for-woman-interviewed-by-the-ethics-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Gomez is being investigated for \u2018sexual harassment and assault,\u2019 according to lawyers for woman interviewed by the Ethics Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Lawyers for a woman interviewed as part of the House Ethics Committee probe into Rep. Jimmy Gomez alleged the California Democrat\u2019s interactions with their client were not consensual \u2014 rebutting claims by Gomez that his \u201cpersonal mistakes outside\u201d his marriage were \u201cconsensual in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContrary to Representative Gomez\u2019s assertion in his statement, his actions were not \u2018consensual in nature\u2019 with respect to our client,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/katzbanks\/status\/2090082857557389485\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Lisa Banks and Sarah Nesbitt<\/u><\/a>, attorneys for the woman who spoke with the Ethics Committee \u201cabout her experience of sexual harassment and assault by Representative Jimmy Gomez,\u201d said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>They added, \u201cWe fully expect that the House Committee on Ethics will come to the same conclusion in its investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gomez\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Banks\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n<p>The disclosure that Banks and Nesbitt\u2019s client was interviewed by the Ethics panel regarding alleged \u201csexual harassment and assault\u201d provides more granular details on what the bipartisan committee, which operates in secret, is actually investigating.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/08\/17\/congress\/gomez-under-investigation-01039363\" target=\"_blank\"><u>committee announced Monday<\/u><\/a> that it was looking into whether Gomez engaged in \u201csexual misconduct,\u201d including \u201cinappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer.\u201d Gomez released his own statement conceding that while he did cheat on his wife in years past, his extramarital affairs were \u201cconsensual\u201d and \u201chaven\u2019t violated the law or House Ethics rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also said he respects the process of the Ethics Committee and was \u201cconfident that a full and impartial review of the facts will bear\u201d out that he did not violate House rules or the law.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, members of Congress are permitted to have consensual intimate relationships with any staffer as long as they are not the members\u2019 subordinate. A bipartisan effort is underway to change the rules to prohibit lawmakers from engaging in such activities with employees of any congressional office.<\/p>\n<p>That initiative is being spearheaded by Reps. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) and Teresa Leger Fern\u00e1ndez (D-N.M.), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/17\/house-ethics-committee-sexual-misconduct-01038952\" target=\"_blank\"><u>who hope to unveil<\/u><\/a> ethics overhaul legislation in September. They are also working to make sure the Ethics Committee works faster to investigate allegations of misconduct, make reports public and recommend punishments that are proportional to the offense.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a strong appetite on Capitol Hill to root out and crack down on members engaged in sexual misconduct after two lawmakers \u2014 then-Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) \u2014 were forced to resign within a week of each other amid accusations of serious misconduct toward staffers. Swalwell has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php\" target=\"_blank\"><u>denied an allegation<\/u><\/a> of assault and allegations of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/04\/10\/us\/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\" target=\"_blank\"><u>sexual misconduct<\/u><\/a>, while Gonzales <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/03\/04\/tony-gonzales-admits-affair-staffer-suicide-texas-23rd-district-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>admitted to an affair<\/u><\/a> with his subordinate who died by suicide.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez was a co-chair of Swalwell\u2019s campaign for governor and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/04\/10\/swalwell-campaign-imploding-amid-sexual-assault-allegation-00867619\" target=\"_blank\"><u> quickly called<\/u><\/a> for his former colleague to withdraw from the Democratic primary.<\/p>\n<p>A third member, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) was pressured to drop his bid for reelection earlier this month after the Ethics Committee released a report with findings that the lawmaker engaged in \u201cpersistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.\u201d Lawyers for Edwards said that the Ethics Committee \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/03\/chuck-edwards-censure-sexual-harassment-01022753\" target=\"_blank\"><u>failed to demonstrate<\/u><\/a> that either of the two staffers expressed discomfort to Representative Edwards regarding his conduct with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banks and Nesbitt, the attorneys for the woman who made claims against Gomez, in their statement Wednesday, said the Gomez case was &#8220;just the latest example of brazen sexual misconduct by a member of Congress. Congress must act to rein in its members who seem to believe that preying on young women working on Capitol Hill is one of the perks of their job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to work with our client and with the House Committee on Ethics to ensure there is accountability for Representative Gomez and a safe path for any other survivors to come forward and share their experiences,&#8221; they said.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Rust, the staff director for the House Ethics Committee, declined to comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawyers for a woman interviewed as part of the House Ethics Committee probe into Rep. Jimmy Gomez alleged the California Democrat\u2019s interactions with their client were not consensual \u2014 rebutting claims by Gomez that his \u201cpersonal mistakes outside\u201d his marriage were \u201cconsensual in nature.\u201d \u201cContrary to Representative Gomez\u2019s assertion in his statement, his actions were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}