Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., said he would be "shocked" if the former aide of Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., faces any charges for having sex with another man in a Senate hearing room.
Cardin's office confirmed Saturday that the aide, identified as Aidan Maese-Czeropski, had been fired after video and reports surfaced of the men having sex in what appears to be Room 216 in the Hart Senate Office Building.
"I was absolutely just disgusted by that, but it shows you that the left holds our institutions in complete disdain and disregard," Reschenthaler told Newsmax's "National Report" on Tuesday. "There's no respect from the left of the institutions that have been standing, so this disrespect is not surprising to me."
Reschenthaler also rejected Maese-Czeropski's claim he was not the one who had shouted "free Palestine" at Jewish Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio.
"Let's not forget this same staffer is the one that told Max Miller, my good friend and fellow congressmen, he walked up to him in the halls and said, 'free Palestine,' knowing that Max Miller was a Jewish member of Congress," Reschenthaler added.
"This staffer's already gone, no longer working here, but, again, the disdain and the animosity for the institutions does not surprise me. This staffer just got caught in an act of disrespect."
Reschenthaler said, as far as he knows, there are "security cameras everywhere" in the U.S. Capitol Building, "except the bathrooms," especially after the breach on Jan. 6, 2021.
"It's not just in the Capitol Building," he said. "D.C. is one of the biggest surveillance cities in the world. It's amazing where the cameras are. When you walk around, you'll see lampposts that you think are lampposts. They're not; they're actually cameras. They're just very well disguised."
As far as criminal charges for Maese-Czeropski, the Pennsylvania congressman said he does not think Cardin's former aide will face any consequences for his conduct.
"Unfortunately, I don't think there will be criminal charges," Reschenthaler said. "There should be, and had that been a Republican staffer doing that, there would be criminal charges, but this goes back to that double standard of justice we have in the United States, especially here in D.C."
"Remember that Rep. [Jamaal] Bowman [D-N.Y.] pulled a fire alarm," he said. "That's a felony offense. He also pulled a fire alarm to delay votes. He was obstructing the business of Congress. That's a felony offense, but the D.A. here in Washington, D.C., gave him a sweetheart deal and let him plead guilty to a misdemeanor and he got some community service, for example.
"So, if you're a supporter of the ruling regime, there's a completely different set of criminal justice standards for you. If you're a member of the general public, there's a different standard. If you're a conservative, there's an even worse standard for you."
"So, we actually have a three-tier criminal justice system," he added. "This guy just happens to fall in the one that's favored by the establishment, so I'd be shocked to see if there's any charges and, if there are, they'll be weak and watered down."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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