It’s only been a few months since two members of Congress — Democrat Eric Swalwell of California and Republican Tony Gonzales of Texas — resigned in disgrace, though the scope of the broader problem about members and alleged sexual misconduct on Capitol Hill continues to come into focus. In fact, in May, Politico reported that the federal government has paid out more than $338,000 to settle allegations of sexual harassment on behalf of House members since 2004.

This came on the heels of the House Ethics Committee for the first time publicly requesting information from people who know about sexual misconduct from members of Congress.

It’s against this backdrop that yet another lawmaker is embroiled in a related scandal.

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday that it has completed its investigation into Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina. The panel’s press release on its findings explained, “At the completion of its investigation, the Committee concluded there was substantial reason to believe Representative Edwards violated House Rules related to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces.”

An accompanying 25-page report went into far more detail. From the document:

Taken individually, many of Representative Edwards’ actions were at minimum inappropriate; a Member of Congress should not single out a staffer and isolate them from other staff, make frequent comments regarding that person’s appearance and weight, send messages in the middle of the night, text staff deeply personal and seemingly romantic thoughts, intrude on personal occasions without invitation, pay for personal vacations, and spend thousands of dollars on gifts for staffers. That Representative Edwards did all these things to two young staffers, repeatedly over a sustained period, was beyond inappropriate.

In his interview with the Committee, the Congressman repeatedly asserted that he knows well what constitutes “sexual harassment,” and seemed to believe that by avoiding inappropriate physical touch, explicitly sexual comments, and occasionally telling the staffers that they were free to put up boundaries with him, he had immunized himself from such a charge. That is not the case. Despite the absence of an explicit proposition, a reasonable person could interpret Representative Edwards’ intimate and effusive attentions, where he prioritized the personal over the professional, as thinly veiled advances.

There is also contemporaneous evidence and testimony that Staffer 1 and Staffer 2 perceived the conduct as abusive. Even under the exacting standards of federal employment law, Representative Edwards’ conduct at minimum exposed his office to the litigation risk of a viable sexual harassment lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the congressman has long dismissed the claims as “baseless allegations.” The House Ethics Committee disagreed.

Indeed, the Republican congressman was quite generous with the two young women in question. Edwards, the ethics panel added, “went beyond norms of professional behavior by giving both women lavish gifts. Both women received numerous gifts from Representative Edwards, including jewelry totaling over $1,000, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.”

At one of the female staffers’ going-away party, the GOP lawmaker, according to the House Ethics Committee, cried while reading her a poem he wrote about her, making other staffers feel “uncomfortable.”

Edwards, who is married, also gave a handwritten letter to one of the staffers as she was set to leave his office, telling her that she had “written a complex chapter in my heart,” the committee said.

As for what happens now, the committee recommended that the House approve a formal censure resolution against Edwards, who was already facing a competitive re-election campaign. Watch this space.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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