The US Capitol Police have announced they will not charge a Democratic congressional aide fired for filming a gay sex tape in the Senate because “no crime” was committed.
Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired by Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland in December, less than a day after a lewd video emerged of two men having sex in a Senate hearing room.
He faced possible criminal charges after his X-rated clip took over the internet.
Capitol Police were investigating the graphic incident, which took place in the same chamber where Supreme Court nominees are being questioned by senators, but announced Thursday they were closing the investigation.
“For now, we are closing the investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding a sex video recorded in the Hart Senate Office Building on the morning of Wednesday, December 13,” Capitol Police wrote in a statement.
The investigation was closed because there was “no evidence that a crime had been committed,” despite the act being “a violation of Congressional policy” because the aide had access to the committee room.
Senate staffer Aidan Maese-Czeropski could face a criminal investigation after a video of two men filming themselves having sex in the US Senate went viral
Maese-Czeropski offended some with his response, in which he claimed the accusations against him were only because he is “being attacked because of who I like to pursue a political agenda.”
The footage was reportedly intended to be shared with a private group of gay individuals in Washington before it surfaced online and quickly circulated.
Maese-Czeropski and his partner in the video were “uncooperative,” Capitol Police continued.
He exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and “refused” to speak to Capitol Police, the statement continued.
But investigators say they are “prepared to review new evidence as it comes to light.”
The aide, who appeared in a 2020 campaign video with Joe Biden, sparked backlash when he published his own statement on LinkedIn, claiming that he “attacked because of who I like to pursue a political agenda.”
“Although some of my past actions have demonstrated poor judgment, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace,” he said.
“Any attempts to otherwise characterize my actions are fabricated and I will explore what legal options are available to me in these matters.”
Contacted by DailyMail.com On Saturday morning, shortly before his dismissal was confirmed, Maese-Czeropski’s mother Magdalena Rivera Maese suggested her son had been left distraught by what had happened, saying: ‘You don’t want to know how he is doing.’
Lawyer Jonathan Turley previously said that there are a number of laws that could have potentially been broken, including whether unofficial use of the hearing room could be considered a violation.
He added that the footage could get the employee into legal trouble if it was recorded in a public place to generate revenue, or if it could constitute a lewd, indecent or obscene act.
Turley wrote Thursday on
Just days before the videos surfaced, Jewish Congressman Max Miller told the newspaper The free beacon of Washington Maese-Czeropski confronted him and shouted ‘Free Palestine’ in his face.
Maese-Czeropski said of these allegations: “As to the allegations against Congressman Max Miller, I never saw the Congressman and had no opportunity or reason to yell or confront him.”
The aide has worked for Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland (pictured) since October 2021, focusing on foreign policy, taxes and trade, according to his LinkedIn account.
Images of the affair, revealed for the first time by the Daily callershows a young-looking male staffer hunched over a conference room in the Hart Senate Office Building.
Another man stands behind him and films the sex act they perform in X-rated detail.
The staffer is seen in a separate photo naked and on all fours on a table where senators often sit and ask questions during hearings.
The images were allegedly shared in a private group for gay men in the political scene and reportedly appeared on a since-deleted account on X.
The owner identifies himself as a ‘twink’ (young, flexible gay man) who performs sexual acts with his older ‘bear’ partner.
According to his LinkedIn, Maese-Czeropski has been working in Cardin’s office since October 2021 and previously worked as a field organizer for the Democratic Party in Virginia and as a climate researcher for the charity Friends of the Earth.
Cardin announced his retirement in May at the end of his current term, and his office has not commented on the allegations against his staffer. Maese-Czeropski did not immediately respond to attempts to contact him.
The congressional staffer is accused of filming the explicit images in a hearing room in the Hart Senate Office Building (pictured)
Congressman Mike Collins responded to the video on social media, lashing out at the alleged operative’s actions.
“A great week for the left,” he wrote. ‘Gay porn in the Senate, swearing in child porn in Virginia, cool tap dancers in the White House and satanic images in Iowa. What else am I missing?’
The aide once appeared in a campaign video for President Biden in a thank-you message days after he won the 2020 election, and spoke briefly to Biden in the montage clip.
A woman claiming to be his mother thanked the newly elected president on X after seeing her son in the promo, she said her son has “worked tirelessly with the Virginia DNC – congratulations everyone!”
Maese-Czeropski is said to have sparked a separate incident just days before the explicit videos surfaced, when Ohio Republican Congressman Max Miller accused him of confronting him over his support for Israel.
Jewish Congressman Max Miller, a former aide to Donald Trump, accused Maese-Czeropski of confronting him in Congress just days before the obscene images surfaced, claiming the aide shouted “free Palestine” at him.
Maese-Czeropski appeared alongside President Biden in a November 2020 campaign video as the campaign thanked supporters for the Democrat’s victory
Miller claimed to the Washington Free Beacon that Maese-Czeropski marched toward him outside a coffee shop in the Cannon House Office Building on Wednesday while he was in the middle of an interview with NBC News’ Ali Vitali.
Miller said the assistant was “visibly shaking” as he walked toward him because he felt like the staffer was “very upset in my presence because he’s a snowflake.”
“And he just came to me again and said, ‘Free Palestine,’” Miller said.
“And I was like, ‘Okay’… I’m not going to give him a response because that’s what he wants.”
Miller claimed Vitali was baffled by the exchange and labeled it “blatant anti-Semitism.”
Vitali didn’t go that far in her own comments about the incident. say on X: ‘A House staffer just walked past Republican Rep. Max Miller – who is Jewish and supports sending aides to Israel – and said, “Liberate Palestine.”
‘Quite rare and stunning to see staff taunting members in the face in this way.’
The aide denied the allegations in his statement to LinkedIn, claiming he “has never seen the congressman and had no opportunity or reason to yell or confront him.”