House GOP taking hard look at congressional ethics chief ⁠— a Democrat charged with a DUI, previously accused of assaulting women

The Democrat congressional ethics chief may have dodged a criminal penalty after allegedly driving into a Pennsylvania home while intoxicated in September, but he will not altogether escape scrutiny by Republicans on the Hill.

A group of House Republicans have taken to questioning the judgment and ethics of the chief of the Congressional Ethics Office, Omar Ashmawy, who has been in his role for the past 12 years.

One lawmaker, provided with greater insights into both the Democrat's September 2022 DUI incident and at least one other significant "lapse of judgment," told Just the News that Ashmawy and his office may soon be held accountable.

Who watches the watchmen?

Just the News reported that senior Republicans on the House Administration, Ethics, and Rules committees were recently briefed on Ashmawy's 2015 bar brawl — a fight the Democrat apparently tried to use his political clout to win after the fact — as well as on the Democrat's drunk driving incident in September.

Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) on House Administration, Tom Cole (R-Okla.) on House Rules, and Michael Guest (R-Miss.) learned that just as Ashmawy was not ultimately disciplined years ago amid accusations of misusing his office and assaulting women, he is now poised to continue unscathed in his position after going off-roading in a residential neighborhood.

Davis suggested Thursday that Ashmawy "should be embarrassed enough to resign. Nobody in that type of position should have multiple instances like he's had."

"I've got to believe there are a lot of people in America with better standards, less of a record than Mr. Ashmawy who could clearly do a better job of gauging which investigations should come to the House Ethics Committee and which should not," added Davis.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, in which Ashmawy serves as staff director and chief counsel, is an independent, purportedly nonpartisan entity tasked with reviewing allegations of misconduct against members, officers, and staff in Congress.

According to the office's website, the OCE's mission "is to assist the House in upholding high standards of ethical conduct for its Members, officers, and staff and, in so doing, to serve the American people."

The OCE was created in 2008 by the then-Democratic majority led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, reported NBC News.

It is governed by an eight-person board of directors, all of whom are private citizens and cannot serve as members of Congress. Accordingly, lawmakers do not have oversight of the OCE.

Republicans sought to bring the OCE under congressional oversight in 2017 but killed the initiative after it was criticized by then-President Donald Trump.

In an Oct. 19, 2022, letter to OCE co-chairmen Paul Vinovich and Mike Barnes, Republican Reps. Davis, Guest, and Cole expressed concern "about recent reports of potentially criminal activity" by Ashmawy, noting that the mission of the OCE — "to assist the House in upholding high standards of ethical conduct" — must be applied internally as well as externally.

The Republican members flagged Ashmawy's "unacceptable pattern of behavior" and asked about what actions had been taken in response.

Whatever actions the board took were evidently not career-killing. Ashmawy reportedly returned to duty Dec. 1, to resume applying a high standard to members of Congress that he might not himself meet.

'Unacceptable pattern of behavior'

Yahoo News reported that Ashmawy was arrested on Sept. 10 and charged with driving under the influence, careless driving, driving on roadways laned for traffic, and restrictions on alcohol in a vehicle.

Ashmawy had reportedly veered off the road, toppled a stop sign, smashed into a parked car, and then collided with the front porch of a Pennsylvania house.

The owner of the house, Hector Fernandez, said the collision shook his house. In the crash, Ashmawy reportedly knocked the victim's car back nine feet and damaged it to the point of inoperability.

Exiting his smoking vehicle, appearing "highly intoxicated," Ashmawy allegedly told Fernandez not to call the police.

According to the victim, Ashmawy said, "Don’t do that. Don’t don't call the police. Come on. Don’t do that."

Fernandez called the police anyway.

When police arrived, Ashmawy refused to take field sobriety tests and was arrested.

Yahoo News reported that an arresting police officer spotted "two bottles of Fireball whiskey, one empty, one full, a six-pack beer box, and a can of unopened beer" inside the car belonging to the Democrat ethics czar.

The Democrat ethics chief told Yahoo News his drunken crash was a "wake-up call," alerting him to his "problem with alcohol dependency."

Vinovich and Barnes issued a statement saying, "We take this matter very seriously and the Board will be reviewing the circumstances surrounding it. ... In the meantime, Mr. Ashmawy has been placed on leave to deal with the issues that contributed to this incident. Helen Eisner will serve as the Acting Staff Director during his absence."

Just the News indicated that the Republican members were informed that unlike other American citizens who might have ended up in jail or with a criminal record, Ashmawy would likely avoid a criminal penalty for the DUI charges by entering an alcohol abuse treatment program called Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition.

Vinovich and Barnes indicated that "upon successful completion of the ARD program, any pending charges against Mr. Ashmawy will be dismissed and his record will be expunged. ... In light of this, the Board has directed Mr. Ashmawy to return to his prior position."

Using political capital to retroactively win fights

Davis, Cole, and Guest summarized the Feb. 14, 2015, incident as follows: "Multiple witness statements to police detailed Mr. Ashmawy’s drunken and harassing behavior towards women during an altercation in which two people pled guilty to charges and Mr. Ashmawy was sued and settled out of court."

The Daily Mail reported that Ashmawy was accused of harassing the inn's female bartender and a server, after which he was allegedly dragged outside for a fight.

After getting roughed up, Ashmawy allegedly used his political pull and office to pressure police to charge the others involved.

According to Just the News, an independent counsel dispatched by the House to look into the matter found that Ashmawy "attempted to improperly exert pressure" on local police.

The ethics chief reportedly used his official congressional emails in correspondences with the police and claimed that people in Washington, D.C., "have taken an interest in this matter and are concerned."

Ashmawy later settled out of court with another man in the fight who claimed that the Democrat ethics chief had improperly tried to get him fired from his Transportation Security Administration job and criminally charged. The man was indeed fired.

"Though it did not condone Mr. Ashmawy's use of his official account in this manner, the Board did not discipline him for it," the OCE board told Republican lawmakers in October.

Davis, who retires in four weeks, hopes to "hold this board and the Office of Congressional Ethics accountable for their actions" on his way out.