Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Thursday, August twentieth, and he says
Speaker 1: he broke no rules and broke no laws, even though
Speaker 1: he admitted to making mistakes in his marriage. But this
Speaker 1: congressman now is being accused of sexual assault, which yes,
Speaker 1: is against the rules and against the law. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of amy and TJ.
Speaker 2: Rope.
Speaker 1: Does this feel like this escalated quickly?
Speaker 2: It absolutely has escalated, And I do believe it feels
Speaker 2: like it escalated based off of Jimmy Gomez's own statement,
Speaker 2: because he made it very clear in his initial statement.
Speaker 2: It will remind everybody what he said. But this all
Speaker 2: was bubbling up this week, and he responded by yes,
Speaker 2: saying he made mistakes outside of his marriage, but he
Speaker 2: insisted that any incidents where those mistakes occurred were consensual
Speaker 2: and not in violation of House ethics rules.
Speaker 1: As his statement, he was very particular about putting that
Speaker 1: in there. We were talking somewhere earlier, Robes, and I said,
Speaker 1: anytime you have to defend yourself and you have to
Speaker 1: say my contact with that woman was consensual, you're probably
Speaker 1: in trouble. And so Robes. Initially this was Robes thought
Speaker 1: to be and at least the way he addressed it
Speaker 1: was at was as something is okay, I stepped out.
Speaker 1: I did something wrong and I shouldn't have done. I
Speaker 1: was disloyal to my wife bad enough. But Roges, we're
Speaker 1: talking about criminal behavior. Is the accusation now.
Speaker 2: Right, because we all believed this stemmed from a tabloid
Speaker 2: report back in April that showed Gomez kissing a staffer,
Speaker 2: not one of his staff members, but a House congressional
Speaker 2: staff member. And in the laws, there is a bit
Speaker 2: of a loophole. Yes, a congressman or a congressman cannot
Speaker 2: have any sort of relationship ship with a member of
Speaker 2: his or her own staff. But it doesn't say anything
Speaker 2: about having a relationship.
Speaker 3: With another congressman or woman's staff. That's a weird loophole.
Speaker 3: They're working to close that loophole.
Speaker 1: That's nuts.
Speaker 2: Obviously, that's something that needs to be done, but it's
Speaker 2: not currently in place. But honestly, I believed you believed.
Speaker 2: It kind of seemed like, yeah, he got messy, he
Speaker 2: had an affair with someone who works on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3: His wife found out.
Speaker 2: Now we're all finding out, and he's claiming, go ahead, investigate.
Speaker 2: I welcome this because the only mistake I made, the
Speaker 2: only person I wronged was my wife.
Speaker 1: He seemed to his defense, seemed to be the technicality.
Speaker 1: It seemed to be the loophole. And okay, that's a
Speaker 1: tough one. That's a tough defense, Robes.
Speaker 3: But now it gets tougher.
Speaker 1: But okay, but that one was Robes. We are now
Speaker 1: this is something else, completely different, Robes. This is now
Speaker 1: put him in that camp of unwanted and potential And
Speaker 1: so we don't know yet, Robes. What we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Sexual assault has a range that can read to that
Speaker 1: can go from unwanted touching of.
Speaker 3: Someone to rape.
Speaker 2: Absolutely that it runs the gamut, and it's a very
Speaker 2: wide margin. And it does appear that this woman's attorneys
Speaker 2: and this woman were angered by Gomez's statement, and they
Speaker 2: are now directly refuting his assertion that any incident was consensual.
Speaker 2: And we think we're talking about the same woman because look,
Speaker 2: CNN is reporting that the House Ethics Committee, in doing
Speaker 2: and conducting this investigation, have learned of other allegations of
Speaker 2: sexual misconduct against Gomez that it's now looking into as well.
Speaker 2: So we don't know if these are all from the
Speaker 2: same woman or if these are separate allegations from different women,
Speaker 2: it looks like it could be any of the above.
Speaker 1: At this point, Oh, here we go again. Are these
Speaker 1: and that's very important. Are these separate incidents dealing with
Speaker 1: the same woman or not? Are you talking about potentially
Speaker 1: multiple women ropes? Here we go again. Possibly Romees. It's
Speaker 1: different sexual harassment, wrong comments, comment about a woman's appearance,
Speaker 1: things like that around the office, sexual harassment, Obviously that's inappropriate.
Speaker 1: But Rome, when you're talking about crime assault.
Speaker 3: That's completely different.
Speaker 2: And in terms of whether or not there is more
Speaker 2: than one woman who is making what claims like this,
Speaker 2: the accusers attorney's statement kind of makes it seem like
Speaker 2: she's not the only one. So it begins with, we
Speaker 2: represent one of the women who was interviewed by the
Speaker 2: House Committee on Ethics about her experience of sexual harassment
Speaker 2: and assault by Representative Jimmy Gomez.
Speaker 1: Okay, that doesn't mean that they all are making an accusation, correct,
Speaker 1: but he phrased it intentionally that way.
Speaker 2: It made it seem like there is more than one woman,
Speaker 2: and there could be.
Speaker 3: There could be, but we don't know.
Speaker 2: The statement goes on to say, contrary to Representative Gomez's
Speaker 2: assertion in his statement his actions were not consensual in
Speaker 2: nature with respect to our client, We fully expect that
Speaker 2: the House Committee on Ethics will come to the same
Speaker 2: conclusion in its investigation. And this is where they really
Speaker 2: come out swinging. This is just the latest example of
Speaker 2: brazen sexual misconduct by a member of Congress. Congress must
Speaker 2: act to reign in its members who seem to believe
Speaker 2: that praying on young women working on Capitol Hill is
Speaker 2: one of the perks of their job. We will continue
Speaker 2: to work with our client and with the House Committee
Speaker 2: on Ethics to ensure there is accountability for Representative Gomez
Speaker 2: and a safe path for any other survivors to come
Speaker 2: forward and share their experiences.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Look, it's there's a he said, and
Speaker 1: she said, and he said, and she's said, and they
Speaker 1: could be multiple. We don't know what do you do
Speaker 1: at this point. We have seen this. I can recall
Speaker 1: the particular case Robes, but where something and a guy
Speaker 1: being accused. Something he said in his reaction publicly caused
Speaker 1: the other side to go, oh, are you kidding me? Yes,
Speaker 1: And it felt like it.
Speaker 2: Was Swallowell was that this is a very common theme
Speaker 2: in an effort to defend themselves. Oftentimes you'll hear an
Speaker 2: accused man cop to something but still place the shared
Speaker 2: responsibility for what happened on the woman. And that is
Speaker 2: when you will just bring the ire of those women
Speaker 2: to the to the forefront, because they're like, no, we
Speaker 2: will not accept you misleading or misrepresenting what happened. Now
Speaker 2: we're going to speak out. Look, I would most women
Speaker 2: do not enjoy this process, do not want to be named,
Speaker 2: do not want to be in the center and in
Speaker 2: the middle of this, to have their name dragged through
Speaker 2: the mud, to have their private sexual experiences examined and
Speaker 2: used against them. This is not a comfortable position to
Speaker 2: be in as a woman. So sometimes it does take
Speaker 2: getting really pissed off before you actually are willing to
Speaker 2: put yourself into the line of fire to call someone
Speaker 2: like this out.
Speaker 1: And you, I mean, just imagine, we don't know what happened.
Speaker 1: He is innocent man, he hasn't been convicted of anything
Speaker 1: at this point, but probably just imagine how she might
Speaker 1: have felt if her experience is what it is now
Speaker 1: presumed to be right, something non consensual, something that she
Speaker 1: was assaulted. We don't know how far that went. Imagine
Speaker 1: if that was her experience, and to have a guy
Speaker 1: come out say publicly, nationally this big headlines that he
Speaker 1: had a consensual experience with somebody, that is, I mean,
Speaker 1: that impugnes her reputation, right, He is suggesting that she
Speaker 1: is willing to do this with a married man, a
Speaker 1: powerful man, and so Rose yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: And a consensual experience and a mistake.
Speaker 2: He only referred to it as mistakes outside my marriage.
Speaker 2: That was as close as he came to acknowledging that
Speaker 2: he did anything wrong, that it was solely a personal,
Speaker 2: private mistake that he made. And if that was not
Speaker 2: her experience, and if she remembers it very differently, well
Speaker 2: she is certainly speaking out now. And to think that
Speaker 2: it appears the committee, the Ethics Committee, has already heard
Speaker 2: from this woman. They've taken her statements down, and if
Speaker 2: CNN's sources are correct, they're saying some of what she
Speaker 2: said led to other inquiries. And now this is a
Speaker 2: much bigger situation than it began.
Speaker 1: Well, we only heard, right, didn't They only announce on
Speaker 1: Monday that they were doing an investigation, And here we
Speaker 1: are on Thursday. This woman has already been interviewed.
Speaker 3: They're moving quickly.
Speaker 1: They're busy these days.
Speaker 2: They Oh my goodness, they certainly are. So when we
Speaker 2: come back, we're going to talk about just how swiftly
Speaker 2: things have moved and what Democrats are saying about Gomez,
Speaker 2: both men and women who are actually speaking out before
Speaker 2: we even get any of the results of the committee's investigation.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. There is a
Speaker 2: growing cry of folks saying that they want the House
Speaker 2: Ethics Committee to come out with their conclusions as quickly
Speaker 2: as possible about these recent and latest sexual assault allegations
Speaker 2: against Congressmen Gomez, coming from an unnamed woman. Her attorneys
Speaker 2: have been speaking out and they've made it very clear
Speaker 2: this was not consensual according to their client, and they
Speaker 2: did discribe I bit a sexual harassment and assault. And
Speaker 2: with that, we're now hearing from female lawmakers on both
Speaker 2: sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans calling for them
Speaker 2: the committee to speed up its investigation ahead of the midterms.
Speaker 3: They want to know.
Speaker 2: What's up before we get closer to this vote and
Speaker 2: the ever important balance of power. I mean, this is
Speaker 2: all timing out in the worst of ways for some
Speaker 2: of these lawmakers because, yeah, their reelection campaign doesn't just
Speaker 2: matter to them personally, it matters to their party collectively.
Speaker 1: The district is in the LA area, right, usually a
Speaker 1: solidly Democratic district. What happens, I don't know what the
Speaker 1: rules might be if he has to come off with
Speaker 1: the ballot. I think at this point Roe, they reach
Speaker 1: a point where the name has to stay on. What
Speaker 1: would their options be? I do not know. But Jromes,
Speaker 1: what do you do with this?
Speaker 2: Gi?
Speaker 1: What do you do with this?
Speaker 2: Yeah? The Democratic Women's Caucus actually called on the committee
Speaker 2: to release the status of their investigation before the sixty
Speaker 2: day blackout period ahead of election day.
Speaker 3: That's what they're asking for specifically.
Speaker 2: And we also heard from the top three Democratic lawmakers
Speaker 2: in the House about these latest escalated or at least
Speaker 2: escalating allegations, Hakeem Jeffries, Catherine Clark, Pete Aguilar.
Speaker 3: This was their joint statement.
Speaker 2: The allegations of misconduct are serious and disturbing. We encourage
Speaker 2: the committee to conduct a thorough and swift investigation.
Speaker 3: Everyone keeps using the word swift.
Speaker 2: They want to figure this out as soon as possible
Speaker 2: so they can figure out what they're gonna do leading
Speaker 2: into the midterms. And when we say leading into the midrms,
Speaker 2: I mean it's we're talking what now now, like that
Speaker 2: sixty day mark is coming up.
Speaker 1: This is incredible, This is happening and keeps happening. Bro,
Speaker 1: how many races have been We're still waiting to see
Speaker 1: what happens with Max Miller, what he might have and
Speaker 1: the other one we're talking about, right, did you remember
Speaker 1: that long twenty minute stream or whatever he had in
Speaker 1: the video he put out and his wife or ex
Speaker 1: wife and the attorney put out some like are you
Speaker 1: kidding and responded to it. They are almost triggering their
Speaker 1: alleged victims by putting out these statements that caused them
Speaker 1: to now retaliate and say stuff to women robes who
Speaker 1: seem to have no desire actually to be caught up
Speaker 1: in some public back and forth.
Speaker 2: And yet here we go, Right, we saw what happened
Speaker 2: in Maine. But then you've got Tony Gonzalez, You've got
Speaker 2: Chuck Edwards, Max Miller, who stayed in the race, as
Speaker 2: you mentioned, of course Eric Swalwell running for governor. This
Speaker 2: has just been like month after month after month of
Speaker 2: scandal after scandal after scandal and to remind you, I
Speaker 2: do have Gomez's original statement where he he basically just
Speaker 2: says I didn't do anything wrong other than to what
Speaker 2: I did to my marriage. But he just said I
Speaker 2: made personal mistakes outside my marriage. Although my actions were
Speaker 2: consensual in nature and haven't violated the law or house
Speaker 2: ethics rules, that doesn't diminish the impact that these mistakes
Speaker 2: have made on those I care about the most. I
Speaker 2: take full responsibility and have committed myself to working through
Speaker 2: the pain privately with my wife and family. So he
Speaker 2: is only admitting to personal mistakes with his family. He
Speaker 2: is not admitting to doing anything illegal criminal to another woman,
Speaker 2: and certainly he's not admitting to doing anything that would
Speaker 2: jeopardize his position in the house.
Speaker 1: Why do we do rugues?
Speaker 3: Again?
Speaker 1: The innocent until proven guilty we always have to repeat,
Speaker 1: We always have to say that. But where this goes,
Speaker 1: don't know who this woman is, don't know if there's
Speaker 1: someone else, but we have to be don't and we
Speaker 1: have to try to in these moments where always be
Speaker 1: fair to everybody, be fair or also and just respectful
Speaker 1: as the best we can hope for in these matters.
Speaker 1: But this is just another one and hopefully they get
Speaker 1: it work out. This Ethics Committee, which is.
Speaker 3: Busy, as you mentioned, the recess right now, Yes, untild
Speaker 3: and that's the thing.
Speaker 2: They're on recess I believe until almost mid September. And
Speaker 2: so now you've got all of these folks asking for
Speaker 2: them to hurry up and get this over with and
Speaker 2: be quick and swift about their investigation, but not really
Speaker 2: sure when that's actually going to begin. And look, the
Speaker 2: attorney's also made a point to say that their client
Speaker 2: showed real courage in telling the committee about her experience.
Speaker 2: I mean, this woman sat in front of the House
Speaker 2: Ethics Committee on Capitol Hill and she was sworn in
Speaker 2: and she testified to sexual assault allegations against Congressman Gomez.
Speaker 2: That's as serious as it gets. And just wonder if
Speaker 2: this now would go to another level.
Speaker 3: I don't know what.
Speaker 2: The rules are, but this was fairly recent and if
Speaker 2: she is claiming that this was a non consensual assault,
Speaker 2: this would be a matter that police, I would imagine,
Speaker 2: would get involved with.
Speaker 3: We've seen this happen in Eric Swalwell's case.
Speaker 2: First the allegations are made, they're dealt with politically, and
Speaker 2: then the police open up their own investigation and it
Speaker 2: seems like that might be the next step here.
Speaker 1: Wow, we have another member of Congress under possible investigation
Speaker 1: for sexual assault. Criminal investigation.
Speaker 2: We shall see. We will, of course, keep our eye
Speaker 2: on this developing story. We always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone.
Speaker 2: I made me roback alongside TJ.
Speaker 3: Holmes. We'll talk soon.