As the world attends the Kavanaugh Senate hearing, the House hears another story #MeToo

A government employee told a House panel Thursday that Mel Watt, the former North Carolina congressman who currently heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has harassed her for years and has prevented from receiving an increase.

"I felt vulnerable and dangerous," FHFA Program Management Analyst Simone Grimes told the House Financial Services Committee during his first public appearance. The harassment made him "extremely uncomfortable," Grimes said. "In my professional career, I have never been reduced to a mere object."

The hearing proceeded simultaneously while the Senate Judiciary Committee heard Christine Blasey Ford talk about charges that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. "Given what is happening at the end of the other end of the Capitol, I'm not sure this hearing will be heard, but I should do it," said Jeb Hensarling's president (R-Tex ). the committee.

Both Grimes and Watt are worth hearing, said Hensarling. "There is something wrong with FHFA and this committee needs to get to the bottom of things."

[Government report details sexual harassment allegations lodged against Mel Watt]

Grimes had to face very polite and respectful questions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, many of whom said they had served with Watt during his 21 years in Congress and considered him a friend. "Regardless of our friendship … I have the responsibility to ensure that Simone Grimes, who has raised extremely disturbing allegations, is heard before this committee," said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) , Member of the committee, who said that he had been to Watt and gave gifts to his first grandchild.

In sometimes aggressive accounts, Watt denied the charges and complained that he was only notified two days later that Grimes would testify at the hearing, which was supposed to focus on the supervision of two housing giants. , Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"I did not take any action or conduct involving Ms. Grimes that was against the law," Watt told the committee. "I am disappointed that it seems that Ms. Grimes is now trying to use my efforts to advise and coach her" in a lawsuit.

Watt clashed with Hensarling, whom he interrupted several times, about his refusal to cooperate in an independent investigation into the allegations of an investigator at the US Post Office. Watt said he was not obligated and would rather cooperate with an investigation by the inspector general of the agency.

"I did not do anything to try to obstruct [that] investigation. I just did not participate, "Watt said. "Why duplicate efforts here?"

Grimes, 44, said the harassment began when Watt, 73, approached her at a departure party in 2015, according to a report by an investigative bureau of the US Postal Service. Grimes told investigators at the agency that she was standing at a snack table with other employees when Watt took her away and "asserted that there was a attraction to explore, "according to the report.

Over the next two years, according to the report, Watt repeatedly asked Grimes to meet him outside the office, including inviting him to his North Carolina vacation home, restaurants, club Blues Alley and at home. Grimes told the House panel that she had accepted several meetings to complain about being underpaid after assuming the responsibilities of another employee who had been promoted.

But the subject of the meetings would inevitably be turned to Watt's attraction for her, Grimes says. In one case, he asked to see a picture of her in a bikini and for another, he asked her for a tattoo on her ankle. "If I kissed that one, would that bring me?" Said Watt in one of Grimes' 15 recordings about their interactions.

Grimes finally claimed to have filed an anonymous complaint with the FHFA. Watt then warned that the "#Metoo" movement had hurt some of the women involved, she said. "I found that it was a threat. It was a warning, "she said. I felt trapped, as if my back was against the wall, "said Ms. Grimes.

"I do not have a personal vendetta against director Watt," said Grimes, saying he had made "smart" decisions at the head of the agency, which oversees much of the mortgage market. But, she said, "I have no reason to believe that I am the first person to experience this with Director Watt."

Watt told the committee that he was disappointed to learn that Grimes had recorded their conversations and asked if any recordings had been falsified. "Unlike what happens in the Senate, this committee can not solve this problem," said Watt, referring to Kavanaugh's hearing.

"I'm a big supporter of the #MeToo movement. I think it's a wonderful thing … but it can not replace a legal process.

Waters responded that times had changed and women's frustrations demanded that Grimes be heard and the committee look into the issue. "In this atmosphere and at a time when women have come forward and decided to go out, they will tell their story," she said.

"There's a lesson to be learned from all of this, maybe for you, it's a new day, it's the new time and the old processes are not working very well," said Waters.