A former Senate staffer with Bay Area roots is embroiled in the scandal currently rocking Washington — the leak of a sex tape reportedly filmed in a congressional hearing room.

The explicit video, which allegedly shows two unidentified men engaging in sexual activity inside the Capitol Hill room, was published on right-wing site the Daily Caller after reportedly being circulated in a group chat among gay men in politics. The staffer had allegedly voluntarily posted it to his own social media account.

CNN has identified the staffer as Aidan Maese-Czeropski, an aide to Democratic Senator Ben Cardin from Maryland. And as SFGATE reveals, his LinkedIn page shows he attended Palo Alto High and graduated in 2017. Afterwards, he studied at UC Berkeley from 2019-2020. Politico also reports that he worked in California politics in 2018 as an intern for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

In fact, Maese-Czeropski has since written a statement on his LinkedIn, expressing the difficulty of the situation and citing attacks on his personal life for political reasons. He said, “While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated.”

Politico reported that Senator Cardin's office confirmed Maese-Czeropski's termination from the U.S. Senate but refrained from providing additional details.

Feature image via Unsplash/Quick PS.