--- title: Ruben Kihuen Says Nancy Pelosi Knew of Harassment Claims description: Kihuen said party leadership knew of these complaints a year ago, and still supported his candidacy canonical: https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-06T00:30:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:38.674Z article:section: Politics og:title: Congressman: Democratic Leaders Knew About My Sexual Misconduct Allegations og:description: "They didn't find anything" og:url: https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f94c4610e0521e/6988f36c656a3f7a53bd2aa4/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5135 og:image:height: 2888 og:image:alt: Las Vegas Bump Stocks Press Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Congressman: Democratic Leaders Knew About My Sexual Misconduct Allegations twitter:description: "They didn't find anything" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f94c4610e0521e/6988f36c656a3f7a53bd2aa4/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Congressman Says Democratic Leaders Knew About His Sexual Misconduct Allegations a Year Ago > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Any Type Of Sexual Harassment Can Cause Psychological Harm [Watch (HLS stream): Any Type Of Sexual Harassment Can Cause Psychological Harm](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ieqFRQHx.m3u8) (1:19)  _Published 2017-11-09. Any form of sexual harassment, whether verbal or physical, has the power to cause psychological harm, according to a new study._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Dec 6, 2017 12:30 AM UTC  Nevada Rep. Ruben Kihuen holds a news conference at the Capitol on Nov. 1, 2017. Nevada Rep. Ruben Kihuen holds a news conference at the Capitol on Nov. 1, 2017. Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Dec 6, 2017 12:30 AM UTC A freshman Congressman who has come under fire after sexual assault allegations is claiming party leadership knew of the complaints a year ago, and still supported his candidacy. Nevada Congressman Ruben Kihuen told ABC News that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and its Chairman Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, knew about the allegations against him, but did not find anything of substance and continued to support him. “They looked into them. They didn’t find anything, and they continued investing millions of dollars in my campaign. They went out there and campaigned for me,” [Kihuen told ABC News Tuesday of Pelosi and Lujan.](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nevada-democrat-accused-sexual-misconduct-resign/story?id=51599790) Representatives for both the DCCC and Pelosi told ABC Kihuen’s account was false, and that they learned of the allegations last week, when _Buzzfeed_ first reported them. [The outlet reported December 1](https://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/she-says-she-quit-her-campaign-job-after-he-harassed-her?utm%5Fterm=.odj4AAjRk#.qjpBppP7W) that a 25-year-old woman, only identified as “Samantha” had left her job as the finance director on Kihuen’s campaign because he repeatedly propositioned her for dates and sex, and twice touched her thighs without her consent. In a statement to Buzzfeed, Kihuen said, “The staff member in question was a valued member of my team. I sincerely apologize for anything that I may have said or done that made her feel uncomfortable. I take this matter seriously as it is not indicative of who I am. I was raised in a strong family that taught me to treat women with the utmost dignity and respect. I have spent my fifteen years in public service fighting for women’s equality, and I will continue to do so.” Both Lujan and Pelosi called on Kihuen to resign after the publication of the article. But Kihuen told ABC he was not resigning. “I plan on continuing the job that I was elected to do by the people of the 4th congressional district,” [he said.](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nevada-democrat-accused-sexual-misconduct-resign/story?id=51599790) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/"},"headline":"Congressman Says Democratic Leaders Knew About His Sexual Misconduct Allegations a Year Ago","datePublished":"2017-12-06T00:30:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:38.674Z","description":"\"They didn't find anything\"","url":"https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f94c4610e0521e/6988f36c656a3f7a53bd2aa4/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4f94c4610e0521e/6988f36c656a3f7a53bd2aa4/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Las Vegas Bump Stocks Press Conference","caption":"Las Vegas Bump Stocks Press Conference","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/","name":"Congressman Says Democratic Leaders Knew About His Sexual Misconduct Allegations a Year Ago"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Any Type Of Sexual Harassment Can Cause Psychological Harm","description":"Any form of sexual harassment, whether verbal or physical, has the power to cause psychological harm, according to a new study.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ieqFRQHx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-11-09T22:11:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ieqFRQHx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/","duration":"PT1M19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5051187/ruben-kihuen-sexual-harassment-nancy-pelosi/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```