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In 2023, California Congressman Jim Costa faced scrutiny following claims of making unwelcome advances towards two interns, as reported by NOTUS.
The allegations against the Fresno Democrat involved inappropriate conduct with one intern in 2020 and another in 2021, according to a complaint lodged three years ago with congressional ethics authorities.
After investigations, both the Office of Congressional Conduct and the House Ethics Committee decided not to pursue the case further. “There wasn’t sufficient evidence to continue,” an insider revealed.
The first incident reportedly involved Costa, then aged 67, approaching a 22-year-old intern at a California nonprofit event as she was about to leave. According to her account, Costa questioned why she was departing and urged her to stay and dance.
“I told him, ‘I’ve already danced.’ He responded, ‘Well, I didn’t dance with you,'” recounted the woman, who is now employed as a lobbyist.
After she repeatedly declined, she alleged that Costa awkwardly asked the intern to “shimmy” with her, so the two did so in the checked bag area.
“Every time I leaned back, it seemed like he got farther forward. So I was grateful that I could do a back bend. It was a very uncomfortable situation,” she alleged.
Then, Costa allegedly told the intern he could help her with her congressional career and gave his personal number.
“He just said ‘I would love to help you with your career. Let’s get dinner.’ Which when it comes from a powerful man, does not mean I want to help you,” the woman claimed in her interview with ethics officials. “I’m not dumb. I knew what it meant.”
The next day, she bumped into Costa again, who allegedly inquired why the intern didn’t give him a text and asked if she had a boyfriend. She alleged that he asked her to send her resume to his chief of staff.
The intern eventually did, she said, because she felt “if I didn’t do these things, my career would be ruined.”
Costa then allegedly asked the woman if she would like to go to dinner, according to texts reviewed by NOTUS. Per those communications, she instead suggested a midday meetup, of which afterward the congressman did not respond.
The woman also claimed she spotted Costa in another dancing incident with another intern a year later at an event hosted by the same nonprofit. He allegedly approached a Senate intern and asked to dance, and this time, the intern said yes.
“She very uncomfortably and awkwardly said yes. At which point he started spinning her around, like, touching, dancing,” the woman claimed. “Everyone was staring. A lot of people were taking photos. At which point, I looked at [the male staffer] and said, you go grab her hand and I will grab his.”
Costa, confronted about the dancing, was reportedly flabbergasted and left the event. That intern later cried in the bathroom at the event, the male staffer told NOTUS.
Costa’s office said in a statement shared with the Post that “all ethics complaints should always be taken seriously.”
“Rep. Costa fully cooperated with a review conducted by the Office of Congressional Compliance and the House Committee on Ethics several years ago. The OCC recommended dismissal, and the Ethics Committee unanimously voted to dismiss the matter,” the statement went on, adding those dismissals “speak for themselves.”
This is not the first time the congressman was alleged to make inappropriate romantic or sexual advances.
When Costa was a state assemblymember in 1986, 34-year-old Costa and a 19-year-old prostitute, who were traveling in a state-leased car, approached another woman and allegedly agreed to pay her $50 for an act of prostitution, Sacramento police reported.
“I made the mistake. I accept full responsibility for my error in judgment on last Saturday,” Costa apologized then.
Costa appears to be single and has not been reported to be married. A question on his marital status was not returned.
The news of his alleged advances comes amid renewed scrutiny on such conduct after the implosion of another California congressman’s career. Eric Swalwell resigned from Congress this year and dropped his leading bid for the governorship after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. Swalwell has denied those claims.