A former female staffer who worked for Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., for 12 years accused the congressman of inappropriately touching her, including once while the two sat side-by-side in the front pew at church.
Elisa Grubbs is the latest woman to accuse Conyers, the longest serving member of Congress, of sexual misconduct. In the wake of accusations made against him by multiple women, Conyers, 88, announced Tuesday his resignation from Congress, effective immediately.
The Michigan Democrat has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, saying they “are not accurate or they aren’t true.”
“They are something that I can’t explain where they came from,” he told “The Mildred Gaddis Show.”
In an affidavit released by lawyer Lisa Bloom late Monday, Grubbs said Conyers would stroke and rub her thighs while sitting near her during the years she worked for him, from around 2001 to around 2013.
Congressman Conyers: women who worked for you deserved better.
This is the first of several affidavits I will be releasing describing allegations that you sexually harassed staffers and covered up complaints.
My client Marion Brown asks only for an acknowledgement and apology. pic.twitter.com/Shfh1dMXd2— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) December 5, 2017
Bloom is representing Grubbs’ cousin, Marion Brown, who served as Conyers’ deputy chief of staff and agreed to a settlement with the congressman after she sued him for wrongful dismissal. Brown said she was fired for rejecting Conyers’ sexual advances.
Like her cousin, Grubbs said Conyers engaged in sexual misconduct with her during the 12 years she worked for the congressman. The Michigan Democrat allegedly called Grubbs and Brown the “Big Leg Cousins” and would say, “Those are some big leg girls” when referencing the two.
In one instance, Grubbs said Conyers came out of the bathroom at his home “completely naked while he knew I was in the room.” The woman said she ran out of the house.
In another instance, Conyers allegedly ran his hand up Grubbs’ skirt and rubbed her thighs while the two were sitting next to each other in the front row at a church.
“I was startled and sprung to my feet and exclaimed, ‘He just ran his hand up my thigh!’” Grubbs said. “Other staffers witnessed the event.”
In her affidavit, Grubbs said she saw Conyers stroke Brown’s butt and legs, as well as those of other female employees, on several occasions.
“Witnessing Rep. Conyers rub women’s thighs and buttocks and make comments about women’s physical attributes was a regular part of life while working in the Office of Rep. Conyers,” she said.
Grubbs also said she heard Conyers ask Brown to come up to his hotel room during a fundraising event at a Chicago hotel in 2005. Conyers then slipped Brown a key to his room, Grubbs said.
Roughly 45 minutes later, after the event ended and Grubbs had returned to her mother’s house, she went to pick Brown up from the hotel.
Grubbs recalled Brown was “physically shaken and upset,” and looked as if she had been crying. Brown told her cousin and her aunt, “That SOB just wanted me to have sex with him,” Grubbs recalled.
In addition to inappropriately touching female members of his staff, Grubbs said Conyers “regularly undressed” in front of his female employees. The Michigan Democrat would allegedly ask a female staffer to come to his office, where he would emerge from his bathroom wearing his underwear.
Grubbs said she raised concerns about the congressman’s behavior with Cynthia Martin, then-chief of staff in Conyers’ Detroit office, as well as Perry Apelbaum, then-staff director and chief counsel on the House Judiciary Committee.
Conyers was the top Democrat on the panel.
Despite her complaints, no action was taken, she said.
Conyers’ resignation topped off a week of calls for him to step down from a growing number of House Democrats.
The Michigan Democrat said Tuesday he will endorse his son, John Conyers III, in the race for his congressional seat.
