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<\/p>\nGOP Rep. Blake Farenthold to Retire from Congress After Vulgar Details of Office Behavior Emerge<\/b>
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Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) will retire from Congress after additional sexual harassment allegations emerged this week.<\/p>\n
Farenthold is already being investigated by the House Ethics Committee over sexual harassment allegations by his former aide, Lauren Greene.<\/p>\n
Politico reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n Asked at a news conference Thursday whether Farenthold should resign immediately, Ryan demurred.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s making the right decision to retire,\u201d Ryan told reporters. \u201cThere are new stories that are very disconcerting. Unacceptable behavior has been alleged in those stories, and I think he\u2019s made the right decision that he\u2019s going to be leaving Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the staffers\u2019 accusations are \u201cshocking\u201d and \u201cunacceptable,\u201d and that he should resign rather than retire.<\/p>\n USA Today reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n Farenthold, who was seeking a fifth term representing the Coastal Bend area of Texas, has been under intense fire since it was disclosed that he settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former aide with $84,000 in taxpayers\u2019 money. He has said the settlement was a strategic decision to put the matter to rest even though he insists the charges are untrue.<\/p>\n CNN reported on the account of Farenthold\u2019s behavior from a former aide, Michael Rekola<\/a>:<\/p>\n One comment from the congressman was especially personal. Rekola was about to leave town to get married in July 2015, when, he said, Farenthold, standing within earshot of other staffers in his Capitol Hill office, said to the groom-to-be: \u201cBetter have your fianc\u00e9e blow you before she walks down the aisle \u2014 it will be the last time.\u201d He then proceeded to joke about whether Rekola\u2019s now-wife could wear white on her wedding day \u2014 a clear reference, Rekola said, to whether she had had premarital sex<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was disgusted and I left. I walked out,\u201d Rekola said. Almost immediately after returning from his wedding, he gave his two-weeks notice.<\/p>\n Those crude remarks in the summer of 2015 marked just one of many instances in which Farenthold made sexually charged comments to or in the presence of aides, Rekola said. During the nine months that he worked for the congressman, Rekola said, he was also subject to a stream of angry behavior not sexual in nature \u2014 screaming fits of rage, slamming fists on desks and castigating aides, including regularly calling them \u201cf**ktards.\u201d<\/p>\n Rekola also told CNN that when the investigation into Greene\u2019s behavior amped up, Farenthold\u2019s abusive behavior did too:<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time he didn\u2019t like something, he would call<\/a> me a f**ktard or idiot. He would slam his fist down in rage and explode in anger,\u201d Rekola said. \u201cHe was flying off the handle on every little thing. I couldn\u2019t find a way to control it.\u201d<\/p>\n Farenthold also frequently made lewd comments about the appearance of women<\/a> including reporters and lobbyists, Rekola said, remarking on the size of women<\/a>\u2019s breasts and buttocks. Some of Rekola\u2019s colleagues joked about being on \u201credhead patrol\u201d \u2014 a reference to Farenthold\u2019s well-known affinity for women<\/a> with red hair (this detail was also described in Greene\u2019s lawsuit against Farenthold).<\/p>\n The post GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold to Retire from Congress After Vulgar Details of Office Behavior Emerge<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n