Sen. Claire McCaskill Says She Was Sexually Harassed as Congressional Intern

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that she was sexually harassed decades ago while working as a congressional intern.

When asked if she thinks the environment is changing on Capitol Hill following increased calls by lawmakers for mandatory training to prevent sexual harassment, McCaskill said, “Well, I don’t know, I will tell you I interned here in college, and I was definitely sexually harassed as an intern in Congress back in the summer of 1974,” McCaskill said, according to the Washington Examiner. “I was definitely sexually harassed.”

The Examiner reported:

McCaskill has said before that she was harassed when she was a legislator in Missouri’s statehouse, but the harassment she experienced as an intern in Washington appears to be a new disclosure.

Asked later if she was harassed by a fellow staffer or member of the U.S. House, McCaskill didn’t want to say.

“I’m not going to comment as to details of it, but suffice it to say that it happened more than once from more than one person,” McCaskill said.

McCaskill said she never reported any of the incidents, according to the Examiner.

“Because whenever you’re in a position where you have very little to no power, it is very hard to imagine yourself taking on somebody who is very powerful and the system that made him powerful,” McCaskill said. “So it was something that felt like I had to choose between my career and coming forward.”

McCaskill said she has not heard about any sitting senators engaging in harassment.

Last month, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said in a video that a chief of staff forcibly “kissed [her] and stuck his tongue in [her] mouth” when she was working as a congressional staffer.

Speier confirmed to ABC News that the man the allegation was directed at was Joe Holsinger, the chief of staff for former Rep. Leo Ryan (D-CA). Holsinger was around 50 years old at the time of the incident, Speier said, and she was in her mid-20s. Holsinger died in 2004.

Former Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA) recently told the Associated Press that when she served in Congress, a male member approached her on the House floor and told her he had been thinking about what it would be like to see her shower. That man, whom she did not name, is still in office.