Capitol police release findings of investigation into shocking gay sex tape

The Capitol Police has concluded its investigation of an infamous video of two men having sex in a Senate hearing room which appeared online in December 2023.

The police force said “there is currently no evidence that a crime was committed,” but that it remains “willing to review new evidence should any come to light,” according to an official statement.

Related:

More explicit videos were allegedly recorded in the US Senate

A senior staffer in Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse’s office was reportedly investigated for the 2022 videos.

“After consulting with federal and local prosecutors, as well as doing a comprehensive investigation and review of possible charges, it was determined that — despite a likely violation of Congressional policy — there is currently no evidence that a crime was committed,” the statement said.

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“Although the hearing room was not open to the public at the time,” the statement continued, “the Congressional staffer involved had access to the room. The two people of interest were not cooperative, nor were the elements of any of the possible crimes met.”

The video in question showed a young man in a black jockstrap kneeling upon an elevated hearing room table in Senate Room Hart 216 – the room used for judiciary hearings. After the right-wing website The Daily Caller posted a censored version of the video online, homophobic Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) identified one man in the video as Aidan Maese-Czeropski, an aide for Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD).

Maese-Czeropski initially denied the accusations on LinkedIn, writing in a now-deleted post, “I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda…. I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated, and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”

Not mentioning the staffer by name in its statement, the Capitol Police said that Maese-Czeropski “exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and refused to talk to us.”

Barely a day after the video surfaced on right-wing websites, Cardin’s office released a short statement that said, “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the US Senate.  We will have no further comment on this personnel matter.” Sen. Cardin himself later acknowledged the incident, saying, “It’s a breach of trust. It’s a tragic situation, and it’s presented a lot of anger and frustration. I’m concerned about our staff and the way that they feel about this.”

Anti-LGBTQ+ right-wingers pointed to the video as evidence of queer “depravity.” Fox News host Jesse Watters called the video “worse than [the] January 6th” insurrection that killed five people and injured over 100 police officers. Another Fox News host expressed disappointment former President Donald Trump’s recent white supremacist rhetoric on the campaign trail caused the media to stop focusing on the explicit Senate video.