JOHN CONYERS STEPS ASIDE FROM JUDICIARY POST AMID SEX HARASSMENT INQUIRY:
“After careful consideration and in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me,” Mr. Conyers said in a statement on Sunday, he is stepping aside on the Judiciary panel “during the investigation of these matters.”
The announcement came five days after the revelation that Mr. Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, had settled a complaint in 2015 by a former employee who had said she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances. The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into the matter.
“I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger,” Mr. Conyers said in the statement. “I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics.”
The news of the settlement was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which said it received documents about the case from Mike Cernovich, a right-wing online commentator. BuzzFeed has reported that a second woman has also accused Mr. Conyers of sexual harassment.
As one Twitter user noted, “I guess he missed the point where Cernovich purposefully gave the information to Buzzfeed knowing that Conyers would take the stance of Cernovich being a non-credible source.”
In the update to his post earlier today on Nancy Pelosi describing Conyers as an “icon” on Meet the Press and thus deserving of a Clinton and Kennedy-esque pass, Allahpundit describes Conyers’ stepping down from the Judiciary Committee as a “half measure.” He links to Josh Barro of Business Insider, who tweets that his theory is that “After her MTP interview landed so badly, Pelosi told Conyers he was going to step aside, and that it could be his choice or hers.”
As Allah asks, so when does Conyers resign? He’s 88, and based on his winning 77 percent in his re-election bid in 2016, his seat is exceedingly safe.
UPDATE: “Pelosi looks ahead,” Scott Johnson writes at Power Line. “Conyers ‘stepped down’ from his perch on the Judiciary Committee, where he was the ranking member. This, however, just clears the decks for impeachment hearings in the event that Democrats retake control of the House in the next Congress.”