WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee recommended a censure of Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., after an investigation found there was “substantial reason to believe” he violated sexual harassment and hostile workplace rules.

The panel’s report, released Monday, concluded that Edwards engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers of his. Edwards denied his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, the report says.

The congressman sent deeply personal texts and spent thousands of dollars on gifts for the women, according to the report. “That Representative Edwards did all these things to two young staffers, repeatedly over a sustained period, was beyond inappropriate,” it states.

Among the gifts, according to the report, were jewelry, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a KitchenAid mixer, a robotic vacuum, vacations, performance tickets and one-on-one dinners.

Both staffers began working for Edwards while he was a state senator and moved with him to his congressional office. One was 19 when she began as an intern in Edwards’ state Senate office and, despite having not yet finished college when he was elected to Congress, he “insisted” on hiring her to be his scheduler. The other worked in Congress as his legislative staffer.

He was aware of concerns about his behavior as early as May 2025, when a senior aide spoke to him on behalf of the two young staffers, according to the report.

While Edwards said he did not treat the staffers “differently,” current and former aides told the committee otherwise. The report says he told the women they looked “pretty” or “breathtaking,” and even commented on one staffer’s weight.

It led to Edwards “providing the young women with lavish and recurrent gifts, making comments regarding their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations, sending notes regarding his effusive affection, and inviting them to other activities as a way to spend time together,” the report states.

The Ethics Committee announced it was reviewing allegations against Edwards in May. In its report, the panel said Edwards agreed to waive certain procedural steps, allowing it to recommend a House-level sanction for his conduct. Unlike the harsher punishment of expulsion, which requires two-thirds of House members to vote in favor, a censure requires a simple majority on the floor.

In an attached response to the report, Edwards said he disagrees with the committee’s findings and holds that the panel did not find any evidence he broke House rules governing sexual misconduct or harassment. He “sincerely regrets that his behavior created discomfort,” according to the response.

‘Untenable position’

The ethics report highlights a power imbalance, saying the women were “put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress,” and Edwards “was at minimum blind to that reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had” on their careers and well-being.

According to the report, Edwards invited the two staffers to private dinners, including an instance where he asked one staffer not to have his scheduler put the dinner on his calendar.

In another instance, Edwards brought one of the staffers to a holiday event at the White House and hid the details from other staffers, buying her flowers and then trying to pressure her to stay with him after the event. He also insisted she travel to and from the event in his car with his driver.

During the investigation, Edwards said he did not recall suggesting they continue their evening, and that he accompanied her in the car out to her home in Virginia because he “felt uncomfortable dumping a young lady on the street.”

Although the report says Edwards produced some of his communications with the two staffers voluntarily, some relevant messages were omitted or “seemingly deleted” from his phone, including ones containing sentiments that were “central” to the probe. One instance of deleted messages included a deleted photo from a staffer of approximately 30 different types of ice cream Edwards had delivered to her house.

“When asked about the missing text messages, he testified that he would delete messages ‘at a whim’ and that ‘a number of people use my phone and if there was anything that might have been interpreted in a way that it wasn’t intended or that someone may be resentful of, I would occasionally delete it,’” the report states.

The ethics report released Monday notes that Edwards’ conduct affected others in the office, with staffers testifying during the investigation they felt he gave the two women preferential treatment.

Sexual harassment is against both House rules and federal law. The committee determined in its report that the allegations “do not implicate quid pro quo sexual harassment, but rather that Representative Edwards’ comments and behavior created a hostile work environment.”

Additionally, the report states that Edwards’ conduct “at minimum exposed his office to the litigation risk of a viable sexual harassment lawsuit.”

The censure recommendation comes after Reps. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., resigned earlier this year amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with staffers. It triggered a bipartisan push for an overhaul of how sexual misconduct is handled in the House; that could be unveiled after lawmakers return from their summer break in a few weeks.

The committee is expected to bring a resolution intended to censure Edwards to the full House after recess. The office of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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