Ex-aide criticizes Gillibrand office over handling of harassment claim

A former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 presidential candidate and a high-profile voice in the #MeToo movement, resigned last year in protest over how the senator’s office handled her harassment complaint against a senior staffer, according to Politico.

Gillibrand’s office contends it thoroughly investigated the matter and determined the complaint didn’t rise to the level of sexual harassment.

The Politico report said the subject of the complaint, Abbas Malik, made unwanted advances and derogatory sexist comments about women in the office.

Malik initially was demoted. However, he was fired last week after further allegations surfaced, according to Gillibrand communications director Whitney Mitchell Brennan. The termination also came after Politico said it inquired about the initial complaint.

“At every step of the process, immediate action was taken by the office,” Brennan said in a statement. “The previous allegations in question were investigated in consultation with Senate Employment Counsel, and included multiple interviews with relevant current employees who could potentially corroborate the claims. A full and thorough investigation into the evidence revealed employee misconduct that, while inappropriate, did not meet the standard for sexual harassment. However, because the office did find unprofessional behavior that violated office policy, including derogatory comments, the office took strong disciplinary action against the employee in question and he was given a final warning.”

Brennan continued: “Recently, we learned of never-before reported and deeply troubling comments allegedly made by this same individual. The office immediately began another investigation and interviewed relevant witnesses, which has led to the office terminating the employee from staff last week.”

Politico didn’t name the aide who said she resigned in protest. But it did publish her resignation letter, dated Aug. 30, 2018. In it, she says she informed Gillibrand’s chief of staff, Jess Fassler, and deputy chief of staff, Anne Bradley, and initially stayed on because she “felt satisfied that there had been a fair process.”

But later she said she was leaving because of “how poorly the investigation and post-investigation was handled.” She also cited Gillibrand’s profile as someone fighting sexual misconduct in Congress and the military.

“I trusted and leaned on this statement that you made: ‘You need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is OK. None of it is acceptable.’ Your office chose to go against your public belief that women shouldn’t accept sexual harassment in any form and portrayed my experience as a misinterpretation instead of what it actually was: harassment and ultimately, intimidation,” the former staffer wrote.

Malik didn't respond to requests for comment, Politico said.

Gillibrand, in a statement, defended her handling of the case.

“As I have long said, when allegations are made in the workplace, we must believe women so that serious investigations can actually take place, we can learn the facts, and there can be appropriate accountability. That’s exactly what happened at every step of this case last year,” the senator said.

Gillibrand, who announced her presidential candidacy in January, has been a vocal proponent of fighting sexual harassment. In December 2017, she was the first of two dozen Democratic senators to call on then-Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to resign in the wake of multiple sexual-harassment allegations. Later that month, she said President Donald Trump should resign over numerous sexual-assault allegations.