RNC chair: ‘Too early to say’ if committee will back lawmaker accused of using taxpayer money in settlement

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said on Wednesday that it is too early to tell whether the committee will back a GOP lawmaker accused of using taxpayer dollars in a sexual harassment settlement.

“It’s too early to say,” McDaniel told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day,” referring to accusations that Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) used office funds to settle a sexual harassment complaint.

“Right now we’re going to let the investigations take place. We’ll see everything that happened through the ethics investigations, and then we’ll let the voters decide,” she continued.

“I want to see an investigation, and I want to hear from the House, and I think [Speaker] Paul Ryan’s got a handle on that.”

{mosads}The New York Times first reported that Meehan used thousands of taxpayer dollars to settle a harassment complaint from a former staffer.

The allegation has resulted in Meehan losing his spot on the House Ethics Committee and the committee opened an investigation Monday into the settlement.

Meehan said he would repay the public funds used to settle the case if found guilty by the committee. 

A spokesman for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Ryan “takes the allegations against Mr. Meehan very seriously.”

“The speaker is committed to rooting out sexual misconduct in the House and providing victims the resources they need,” Ryan spokesman Doug Andres told The Hill, noting that the allegations against Meehan “must be fully and immediately investigated by the House Ethics Committee.”

Meehan on Tuesday said he developed an affection for a younger staffer and saw her as “a soul mate,” but he denied seeking a romantic relationship with her.

“I was a happily married man and I was not interested in a relationship, particularly not any sexual relationship, but we were soul mates,” Meehan told The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.