Ethics panel recommends House censure Rep. Chuck Edwards for conduct with two aides

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee recommended Monday that Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., be censured after finding that he engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female aides in his congressional office.

A censure registers the House’s deep disapproval of a lawmaker's conduct that does not meet the threshold for expulsion.

Edwards has denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, but the committee said his behavior would “lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such.” It also described his actions as “beyond inappropriate.”

The panel highlighted numerous examples of actions it considered improper, including Edwards providing the young women with lavish and recurrent gifts, making comments regarding their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations, and sending notes regarding his affection.

The Ethics panel found no evidence Edwards explicitly propositioned any person under his employ or engaged in any sexual activity with them. But it also said he failed to adhere to “the spirit of rules prohibiting sexual harassment of and unwanted advances to House staffers.”

"Both women were uncomfortable with his behavior (which they attempted to communicate) but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress," the Ethics Committee said in its 25-page report. “Representative Edwards was at minimum blind to that reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had on the careers and well-being of two women on his staff.”

One aide worked for the congressman's office for about two-and-a-half years and the other for about three years. They no longer work there. The Ethics panel said they left due to conduct described in its report, although they provided other explanations to Edwards.

In a 15-page response to the report, Edwards' attorneys argued that the committee's findings “exonerate” the congressman, pointing to the conclusion that he did not engage in sexual activity or explicitly proposition any staff member.

His attorneys said the recommendation of censure was an “extraordinarily harsh and infrequent punishment” that is based on vague standards and adherence to the spirit of House rules, “not based on a direct violation of House rules addressing sexual misconduct.”

House members are prohibited from engaging in sexual harassment or making unwanted advances toward their subordinates.

The committee's report detailed numerous gifts that Edwards gave the two aides, calling the gifts “beyond norms of professional behavior.” The women received jewelry totaling more than $1,000, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, as well as vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.

The Edwards investigation came at a time of heightened scrutiny of lawmakers’ behavior toward female staffers following the resignations of Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales. Both were facing calls for their expulsion before they stepped down earlier this year.

In May, House leadership designated Reps. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., to lead a bipartisan effort to combat sexual misconduct in Congress. Their work is focused on making Capitol Hill a safer job environment for women.

The Ethics panel said Edwards cooperated with the investigation and acknowledged to them that at least some of the behavior at issue could be viewed as inappropriate. However, he has not acknowledged or taken responsibility for the harm he caused, the committee said.

In his interview with the committee, the panel said Edwards repeatedly asserted that he knows well what constitutes “sexual harassment,” and seemed to believe he had immunized himself from such a charge by avoiding inappropriate touching and sexual comments and occasionally telling the staffers that they were free to put up boundaries.

“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," the committee wrote.

The full House will have to vote before any censure would occur. Traditionally, a lawmaker who is censured must stand in the well of the House while the speaker or presiding officer reads the censure resolution as a form of public rebuke.

Lawmakers are back in their home districts for almost the rest of the month, so a vote on whether to censure Edwards won't occur for a few weeks at the earliest.

FILE - Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., listens to testimony as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight holds a field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)

HAVANA (AP) — Alexey Ríos García awoke not to his bed in Cuba 's capital on Monday, but to an ocean breeze and the concrete of Havana's famous seaside boulevard.

The 30-year-old construction worker ended up curling up with other Cubans on the city's sea wall, the Malecón, in a desperate attempt to escape the suffocating summer heat during yet another islandwide blackout.

Sunday night marked the sixth islandwide blackout since Trump administration effectively cut Cuba off from oil — its main energy source — in January. The move plunged the endemically crisis-stricken country into free-fall. While authorities on Monday said they were working to get the power back on, much of the island still had no electricity.

The energy grid collapses have left people like Ríos García with fewer options to get by as the U.S. maintains its pressure campaign against the communist-led government.

"Things are only getting worse. Tomorrow it’ll collapse again ... and we’ll be back to sleeping on the Malecón,” said Ríos García, who used a piece of yellow foam as a pillow to cushion his head from the tough concrete.

The recurring power outages combined with the stifling heat have created collective insomnia on the island as residents struggle to get through the night. While some like Ríos García have slept on the boulevard, others struggle to get some rest on balconies and front porches.

The day of the latest blackout on Sunday, the temperature hit 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius), but ended up feeling like 106 F when combined with the Caribbean's 80% humidity levels.

It marks just one of a growing number of struggles on the Caribbean island where day-to-day life has grown increasingly difficult since the U.S. threatened to impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide it with oil. That was a debilitating blow after decades of U.S. economic sanctions, with the island's infrastructure crumbling and a surge in migration.

Sunday's latest total blackout confirmed by the state-run energy company came after sweeping outages across western Cuba, including the cities of Pinar del Río, Matanzas and Havana the day before.

Energy authorities reported two nationwide grid collapses in March and three in July, along with several partial outages.

Rolling blackouts now last more than 20 hours a day. Obtaining gas and basic goods have become daylong endeavors. Cubans worry about precious food like frozen chicken rotting in their fridges without power. The island’s once bustling tourism industry has bottomed out, leaving even fewer with a source of income allowing them to get by. With little fuel, public transportation in Havana has effectively collapsed. Hospitals have been left reeling and have sought to install solar panels to keep the lights on.

Cubans have long displayed a characteristic resilience to hardship, adapting to twists and turns and unexpected shortages after decades of living under a U.S. trade embargo. But in recent months and years, a sense of hopelessness has increasingly gripped those still remaining on the island.

Among them was 30-year-old physical education teacher Elaine Delis Ramos, who curled up next to loved ones on the boardwalk on top of a thick blanket in search of a breeze.

“Just when we start hoping (the energy grid) wouldn't collapse again, there it goes again," she said. “We don’t have any solution.”

A man sells fruit during a power outage in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)