A Republican congressman was removed from the House Ethics Committee on Saturday after it was reported that he used thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to settle a misconduct complaint by a former staffer. The fourth-term lawmaker now faces an investigation by the ethics panel, according to a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). “Speaker Ryan takes the allegations against Mr. Meehan very seriously,” AshLee Strong said in an emailed statement. According to the Times, Meehan professed his romantic desire for his decades-younger staffer last year after she began seriously dating someone outside his congressional office. He became hostile toward the woman, who was not named in the story, when she did not reciprocate, the paper reported.

Source: Washington Post January 20, 2018 23:19 UTC