Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reported a fake complaint accusing him of sexual harassment to Capitol Police, a spokesperson from his office confirmed Wednesday.
Axios reported on Tuesday Schumer told the outlet he is the victim of a fake document that implicates him in detailed harassment claims by a former aide.
The news of the document comes amid a wave of sexual harassment allegations engulfing Capitol Hill. Democratic Sen. Al Franken, Democratic Rep. John Conyers and Republican Rep. Trent Franks are all stepping down amid claims of sexual misconduct during their time in office.
Schumer’s office confirmed the Axios report to CNN and his communications director Matt House said there were no additional details.
The former aide from Schumer’s office, who was not named in the report, told Axios in a phone interview she did not write the document and that none of its charges are true — adding that her signature on the document was forged.
She also said she hadn’t known about the document until Axios inquired about it.
The staffer named in the document worked for Schumer from 2009 to 2012, and is now a career employee of the federal government, according to Axios.
Schumer’s office also said in a statement that the document is false and they’ve reported it to Capitol Police.
“The document is a forged document and every allegation is false,” House told Axios Tuesday. “We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken.”
He continued: “We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same.”
A source close to Schumer told Axios that the document was full of errors.
“The document contains an allegation of inappropriate behavior on September 16th, 2011 in Washington, but Schumer was in New York City,” the source told Axios, adding, “It contains an allegation of inappropriate behavior by Schumer on August 25th, 2011 in Washington, but Schumer was in France.”
