Rubio Fires Chief of Staff for ‘Improper Conduct’
Flew from Florida to D.C. over the weekend
Sen. Marco Rubio has fired his chief of staff for “improper conduct,” he announced.
In a statement released Saturday evening, the Florida Republican said he was “made aware for the first time” of allegations that his chief of staff, Clint Reed, violated office policies about relations between subordinates and supervisors.
Rubio said the allegations were reported directly to him on Friday instead of his general counsel or the Congressional Office of Compliance.
“By early this afternoon, I had sufficient evidence to conclude that while employed by this office, my Chief of Staff had violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates,” Rubio said in his statement.
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The Office of Compliance has come under criticism in recent months for having a drawn-out process for handling claims of sexual harassment.
Bipartisan legislation has been proposed to simplify the process and prohibit making nondisclosure agreements a condition for filing complaints.
Rubio said on Saturday he flew from Florida to Washington, D.C., and “terminated [Reed’s] employment effective immediately,” he said.
“We have taken steps to ensure that those impacted by this conduct have access to any services they may require now or in the future,” Rubio said. “Pursuant to the wishes of those victimized by this conduct, we will not be disclosing any further details about the incidents which occurred.”
He said he will notify the proper Senate and congressional offices about the matter on Monday.
Rubio criticized the Miami Herald in a statement for attempting to inquire about further details of Reed’s conduct.
“If victims of harassment come to believe that they cannot report harassment without having their identities revealed, it may discourage those who do not want to be publicly identified from reporting cases of harassment in the future,” he said in a statement.
Reed served as Rubio’s campaign manager during his re-election campaign for Senate in 2016 and, according to his LinkedIn page, he served as director for Iowa during Rubio’s presidential run.