(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., broke his silence after firing one of his legislative aides reportedly seen in a viral amateur gay porn filmed in a Senate conference room.
“I was angry. I was disappointed,” Cardin told reporters outside the Capitol on Monday. “It’s a breach of trust.”
Cardin on the staffer: pic.twitter.com/fstAqdBn2h
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 18, 2023
Cardin’s comments followed the leak of a disturbing video depicting two men having anal sex within a Senate Judiciary Committee room. One of the individuals was reportedly identified as Cardin’s since-fired legislative aide, Aidan Maese-Czeropski.
Cardin did not to disclose the staffer’s name allegedly seen in porn video, first made public by the Daily Caller. He did, however, mention that the U.S. Capitol Police is investigating the incident. In a weekend statement, Cardin announced the termination of Czeropski.
The Maryland Democrat refrained from providing details about a potential internal investigation into his office’s hiring practices. “These are personnel issues that I won’t talk about publicly,” Cardin claimed.
A reporter persisted, asking, “Did your office book the room?” Cardin replied that he was unaware of how his former legislative aide gained access to the room where the video was reportedly recorded.
🚨BREAKING: The office of Sen. Ben Cardin just sent out a statement saying that Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed after he filmed himself having sex in the senate hearing room. https://t.co/X8Zu27yO2F pic.twitter.com/MR2CghQKmQ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 16, 2023
“My knowledge of this was over the weekend,” Cardin said. “When I learned about it, I made sure he was separated, so he left the Senate employment.”
A CNN reporter inquired if the staffer had exhibited “any unusual behavior while he was working in the office,” to which Cardin replied, “These are personnel issues.”
When asked if he knew the staffer well, Cardin said, “I know all my staff people.” Another reporter chimed in asking, “Were you particularly close to this staffer?” But Cardin declined to answer: “I can’t tell you. I’m not going to get into my relationship with staff people?”
According to Fox News, the U.S. Capitol Police is investigating the incident and said that the men in the video could potentially face prosecution. Cardin declined to say whether he thinks any charges would be filed against his former staffer.
The porn scandal began after the Daily Caller reported the discovery of a video allegedly found in a Washington, D.C. gay men’s group chat, depicting a nude man being anally penetrated by another.
