Senate staffer's sex tape raises major security red flags on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON - Big security concerns are being raised on Capitol Hill after an aide to a Maryland senator was allegedly one of the two men seen in a sex video recorded in a Senate hearing room.
That aide is now fired, and people are asking how this could happen.
It's one of those stories that everyone on Capitol Hill is talking about, but nobody is talking about it on the record.
When news broke Friday that a Senate staffer was alleged to be one of the two men in a sex video in the Hart Senate Office Building, it raised eyebrows.
But now it’s raising questions about security here on The Hill.
The video, which was recorded inside Hart Senate hearing room 216 – is the same room folks often see on TV as the location for high-profile hearings on everything from Supreme Court nominations to Senate intelligence hearings. People at the Capitol told FOX 5, they want to know where Capitol police were when this sex video was being made.
The U.S. Capitol Police Department and Senator Cardin’s Office declined to speak with FOX 5 about the incident. Capitol police would also not say if there was any security video of the sex tape being made inside the Senate hearing room.
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Retired Secret Service agent Jeff James told FOX 5, from a security standpoint – the incident should never have been allowed to happen.
"There are items that are classified and the general public frankly should not have access to that and frankly if we got away from the idea of saying ‘everybody should be able to do xy & z it’s their right.’ I think we’d be better off for sure," James said.
But while this sex video is raising eyebrows and concerns, it's hardly the only security concern of late. Incidents ranging from Jan. 6, the takeover of the Cannon House Office Building Rotunda by protesters this fall, to a U.S. congressman pulling a fire alarm, have prompted calls for a review of security of the entire Capitol complex.