New York Republican Representative Tom Reed announced Sunday that he will not run for reelection in 2022 after a sexual harassment indictment against him was made public last week.
“My behavior caused him pain, he showed him disrespect and was not professional. I was wrong, I’m sorry and I take full responsibility,” Reed said in a statement echoed by CNN.
Last Friday, Nicolette Davis, who worked as a lobbyist for an insurance company, told ‘The Washington Post’ how Reed, in a drunken state, stroked her back and thigh and unzipped her bra at a restaurant in Minneapolis in 2017.
“This happened at a time in my life when I was struggling. When starting treatment in 2017, I recognized that I am powerless over alcohol. Now I am approaching four years of that personal recovery journey,” the congressman justified republican.
In that same statement, Reed clarifies that it is not “an excuse” and that “in accordance with his recovery”, he assumes his past actions and again offers his apologies “humbly” to Mrs. Davis, his wife, his children and their loved ones.
In her account, Davis noted that she that day she wrote a text message to a colleague asking “for help” as “a drunk congressman” was “rubbing her back.” According to her account, Reed was separated and taken from the premises by one of the people who was at the table with them.
Precisely Reed has been one of the members of Congress who has been demanding the resignation of the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, due to the numerous complaints of sexual harassment that have been issued against him in recent weeks.
