CA congresswoman describes harassment ordeal in online video
WASHINGTON — A California congresswoman used a video Friday to describe being grabbed and kissed as a young congressional aide and to invite staffers to share their own stories as the sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein reverberated on Capitol Hill.
“Many of us in Congress know what it’s like, because Congress has been a breeding ground for a hostile work environment for far too long,” Rep. Jackie Speier says in a brief video she posted on Twitter and YouTube.
Looking directly at the camera, the 67-year-old Democrat says the office’s chief of staff “held my face, kissed me and stuck his tongue in my mouth.” She says she knows what it means to keep such stories bottled up.
“I know what it’s like to lie in bed at night, wondering if I was the one who had done something wrong,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone. “I know what it’s like years later to remember that rush of humiliation and anger.”