Raw unprotected gay sex.
Not a topic that a mainstream political news outlet normally handles. However, when you are talking about Democrats and the U.S. Senate sometimes such outlets do have to handle it. Such is the case with a 24-year-old staffer for Senator Ben Cardin who was discovered on a private video having raw unprotected gay sex in a chamber of the Hart Senate Building on Capitol Hill. So if you are Politico, how do you cover this scandal? Well, very very delicately as you can see in the Saturday Playbook, "Senate staffer out after sex tape scandal."
One method they use to avoid having to delve deeply into the incredibly sordid details is to send readers to the Daily Caller:
And now there’s this: “Senate Staffer Caught Filming Gay Sex Tape In Senate Hearing Room (GRAPHIC),” by The Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers.
First off, please know, when they say “GRAPHIC,” they mean it.
The video, which Rodgers reports was shared in a group chat with gay men in politics, shows two men having sex in what appears to be Hart 216, the cavernous room that has played host to Supreme Court nominees, the 9/11 Commission hearings and former FBI Director JAMES COMEY’s blockbuster 2017 testimony on DONALD TRUMP.
Then, after letting the Daily Caller handle the dirty details, Politico makes this strange observation:
The, um, action takes place on the dais — right between where Sens. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) and CHRIS COONS (D-Del.) were sitting at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee markup, in case you were wondering.
I wasn't wondering but since you brought this up, how are Senators Klobuchar and Coons going to feel the next time they take their seats in Hart 216? We have a pretty good idea now what will probably be going through their minds.
The Daily Caller did not name the staffer, but conservative outlets identified the person responsible as AIDAN MAESE-CZEROPSKI, an aide to Sen. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.).
Cardin’s office, after not commenting yesterday on what it called a “personnel matter,” this morning tells Playbook in a statement that “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate.”
“We will have no further comment on this personnel matter,” the statement added.
No curiosity as to the other participant who was recording the, um, activities? It could be another Cardin staffer. Since cross-party camaraderie is rare nowadays, he most likely isn't a Republican.
Playbook also reached out to Capitol Police this morning to see if an investigation is underway and did not get a response. Senate leadership aides also declined to comment.
That might be the most important part of the Politico report. Obviously, this stunt was filmed, so it cannot be denied. But since we can assume since January 6 that there's surveillance footage, couldn't they know who was with Ben Cardin's former aide? And could the Capitol Police have taken action in real time? Finding out this information could be a homework assignment for Politico.
Our attempts to reach Maese-Czeropski this morning did not immediately succeed, but he posted the following to LinkedIn last night: “This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda. While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”
Filming a porn video in a Senate hearing room isn't about "who I love." It's about where you're filming. Such are the crazy times we live in.
