Congressman says aide he denies harassing was his "soul mate"

A Pennsylvania congressman who settled a sexual harassment case with a former aide says he saw her as “a soul mate” and “lashed out” when he found out she was dating someone else, but he claims he never pursued a romantic relationship with her. And he’s refusing to step down.

Republican Rep. Pat Meehan’s comments Tuesday, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, were his first following the publication of a report in the New York Times Saturday that he used thousands of taxpayer dollars to quietly settle sexual harassment allegations brought by his former employee in 2016.

Meehan, 62, said that he told his much younger former aide, over ice cream, that he had developed a deep affection for her. He saw her as “a soul mate,” and admitted that after she started seeing someone outside of the office, he reacted “selfishly,” according to the Inquirer interview.

“I started to talk to her about my reaction to (her new relationship) and you know, selfishly I was thinking about what this was going to mean to me,” Meehan said, according to the Inquirer, “that she was leaving and that this was going to change the dynamic which was very special in my office and also somebody that I was emotionally close to by virtue of the time that we spent together in seven years.”

The father of three also told the aide he was a "happily married man and I was not interested in a relationship, particularly not any sexual relationship, but we were soul mates. I think that the idea of soul mate is that sort of person that out go through remarkable experiences together.”

The woman filed a formal complaint, and settled for an undisclosed amount.

Meehan says the settlement was aboveboard and reviewed by congressional lawyers. He referred to the payment as a “severance” in his interview with the Inquirer.

He further said he’s staying in the race for his seat, despite calls from Democrats for him to resign and from Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to return the funds he used in the settlement. Ryan also removed Meehan from the House Ethics Committee panel that was reviewing claims of sexual harassment brought against other members of Congress.