House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday asked whether the House Ethics Committee needs “additional resources” amid the investigation into her Democratic colleague, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.).
“As one who served seven years on the Ethics Committee, I know that the demands on staff and resources can at times be overstretched,” she wrote in a letter sent to the panel’s Chairwoman Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) and top Democrat Rep. Ted Deutch (Fla.).
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“Should you need any additional resources to fairly and swiftly pursue these investigations, please make that need known,” she added, while urging the panel to move “expeditiously as well as fairly into any investigation of credible harassment and discrimination allegations.”
The letter comes one day after Pelosi said she believes Melanie Sloan, a D.C.-based ethics lawyer, who publicly accused Conyers of misconduct last week. Sloan alleges that Conyers became “increasingly abusive” toward her while she worked for him from 1995 to 1998. She also claims that at one point the lawmaker appeared in his underwear after summoning her to his office.
Pelosi came under fire for a Sunday interview in which she defended Conyers, calling him an “icon in our country” who deserves “due process.”
During the interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Pelosi also dodged answering whether she believes the allegations against Conyers, saying that is for the Ethics panel “to review.”
Conyers, the longest-serving current member of the House, announced hours after her interview that he would step down from his powerful post as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Sloan publicly came forward after BuzzFeed News published a bombshell report that Conyers settled a wrongful dismissal complaint with an unidentified former employee in 2015 over allegations of sexual harassment.
Other former staffers have since come forward with allegations against Conyers, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Two Democratic lawmakers have called on Conyers to resign from Congress.