No charges vs. aide to Cardin in probe of leaked sex tape

Prosecutors and U.S. Capitol Police said last week that they found no evidence that a crime was committed when a sex tape involving a congressional staffer was recorded in a Senate office building.

In a statement last week, the federal police agency also said two people of interest in the probe of the Dec. 13 tape were “not cooperative” with the investigation and that “the elements of any of the possible crimes” were not met.

“Although the hearing room was not open to the public at the time, the congressional staffer involved had access to the room,” the agency said, without naming the staffer, who they said had since resigned from his position.

After the video depicting two men engaging in sexual activity was published online in December, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin’s office said Aidan Maese-Czeropski, an aide, was no longer employed by the Maryland

Democratic U.S. senator. Maese-Czeropski posted on LinkedIn that he was being attacked “to pursue a political agenda.” His account was later deactivated, and he did not return a request for comment on Tuesday.

The conservative news website The Daily Caller published portions of the video recorded on a cell phone in the Hart Senate Office Building in December, and The American Spectator identified one of the men as a staffer for Cardin, but neither outlet identified the staffer.

Capitol police said the staffer involved in the making of the sex tape “exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and refused to talk to us,” and that although they did not find a crime was committed, the acts were “a likely violation of Congressional policy.” Investigators are “willing to review new evidence should any come to light,” they said.