Taxpayers paid over half a million dollars in confidential congressional sexual harassment settlements dating back decades – a total higher than previously made public, newly released documents reviewed by CNN show.
Documents initially shared with Congress revealed that taxpayers had paid more than $300,000 on behalf of six former members of the US House of Representatives or their offices.
But the total amount was far higher.
In its initial production to Congress, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights had missed a $220,0000 payment on behalf of former Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died in 2021. The payment marks the single biggest congressional sexual harassment settlement known to date and nearly doubles the tax-payer funded total for such cases disclosed last week. Hastings previously called the allegations “ludicrous.”
The office explained in a letter to House Oversight Chair James Comer that the payment did not meet the office’s initial search criteria, which was just targeting settlements made on behalf of the office of a lawmaker, according to the letter reviewed by CNN. In Hastings’ case, the settlement involved the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which Hastings chaired at the time.
