{"id":323532,"date":"2026-08-17T22:57:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/323532\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:57:38","slug":"house-ethics-panel-probing-dem-rep-jimmy-gomez-after-he-admitted-to-cheating-on-his-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/323532\/","title":{"rendered":"House Ethics panel probing Dem Rep. Jimmy Gomez after he admitted to cheating on his wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) for \u201cinappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer\u201d \u2014 after he admitted to cheating<\/a> on his wife following a Post expos\u00e9<\/a> that revealed Gomez kissed a much younger aide three years ago.<\/p>\n

The Ethics Committee cited a potential violation of a House rule that prohibits lawmakers or employees from engaging in \u201cunwelcome sexual advances or conduct towards another Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect the Committee\u2019s process and am confident that a full and impartial review of the facts will bear that out,\u201d Gomez said in a statement. \u201cI stand ready to cooperate with the Ethics Committee inquiry and provide it with whatever information it might need. Out of respect for my family and the ongoing process, I will have no further comment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The probe, announced by the bipartisan panel Monday, threatens to drag in prominent Democrats as witnesses \u2014 including Gomez\u2019s former roommate Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) \u2014 and adds fuel to efforts to further restrict sexual conduct <\/a>between elected officials and subordinates.<\/p>\n

Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat from California, during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats in Washington, DC, on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gomez copped to having an affair in June<\/a>, confessing to \u201cpersonal mistakes outside my marriage that have caused real pain to my wife and family,\u201d in a statement to CNN that characterized the extramarital relations as \u201cconsensual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely apologize to my wife, family, friends and the people that I have the privilege to serve,\u201d the 51-year-old said at the time.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Gomez added in a statement that his actions \u201cwere consensual in nature and haven\u2019t violated the law or House Ethics rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI take full responsibility and have committed myself to working through the pain privately with my wife and family. I sought professional assistance to help re-center and heal my relationships and move forward with honesty, transparency, and respect. I continue to do this work,\u201d he also said.<\/p>\n

The Post reported April 18 that Gomez got hot and heavy with a House staffer <\/a>two decades his junior outside a backyard party at then-Rep. Eric Swalwell\u2019s (D-Calif.) DC residence in the summer of 2023.<\/p>\n

Speaker Paul Ryan (left) conducts a swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol with Rep. Jimmy Gomez, Gomez\u2019s mother, Socorro, and his wife, Mary Hodge, on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The married Dads Caucus founder had an 11-month-old child at home and initially denied sharing a passionate moment with the woman, then-Swalwell aide Yardena Wolf, against a car outside her boss\u2019 home.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether the Ethics Committee is investigating other relationships Gomez may have had with congressional aides.<\/p>\n

Swalwell, Gallego and Gomez formed a so-called \u201cCool Kids Clique\u201d prior to their collective disgrace and were known for heavy drinking and womanizing, including at Swalwell\u2019s DC pad.<\/p>\n

Gallego has privately admitted to sexual relationships with at least two House aides working for different members of Congress, The Post reported <\/a>last month.<\/p>\n

Gomez admitted to cheating on his wife following a Post expos\u00e9 on him kissing a much younger aide three years ago.<\/p>\n

The House of Representatives banned members from having relationship with their own staffers in 2018 at the height of the #MeToo movement \u2014 after four lawmakers resigned following allegations of misconduct.<\/p>\n

While relationships between lawmakers and staffers for their colleagues are technically allowed, they can still run afoul of congressional rules if there are additional aggravating factors \u2014 such as harassment, assault or if the staffer works for a committee on which the member sits.<\/p>\n

In response to The Post\u2019s reporting on Gomez and Gallego, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last month endorsed a bipartisan proposal<\/a> to ban all sexual conduct between lawmakers and House staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if a relationship is consensual, there is an inherent power imbalance that can undermine trust and create an appearance of impropriety,\u201d House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the highest-ranking woman in the House, told The Post at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal should be protecting staff and maintaining confidence in the institution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) for \u201cinappropriate sexual contact with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20461,651,9,11,10,87,7316,58],"class_list":["post-323532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cheating","tag-democratic-party","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-us-house-of-representatives","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}