Congressman told woman he would report her to Capitol Police if she exposed his secret sex life

[mcar]

Source: Washington Post

Rep. Joe Barton, who apologized Wednesday for a lewd photo of him that circulated on the Internet, told a woman to whom he had sent sexually explicit photos, videos and messages that he would report her to the Capitol Police if she exposed his behavior, according to a recording reviewed by The Washington Post.

The woman spoke to The Post after the lewd photo was published Tuesday by an anonymous Twitter account. She shared a secretly recorded phone conversation she had with Barton in 2015 in which he warned her against using the explicit materials "in a way that would negatively affect my career."

The woman described encounters and contact spanning a five-year period that began online after she posted a message on Barton's Facebook page in 2011, leading to the sexually explicit exchanges and ultimately a pair of physical sexual encounters in Washington and Texas. Over time, she said, she became aware of and corresponded with multiple other women who engaged in relationships with Barton, who represents a suburban Dallas district and is one of the most senior Republicans in the House....

Said Barton: "I would tell them that I had a three-year undercover relationship with you over the Internet that was heavily sexual and that I had met you twice while married and had sex with you on two different occasions and that I exchanged inappropriate photographs and videos with you that I wouldn't like to be seen made public, that you still apparently had all of those and were in position to use them in a way that would negatively affect my career. That's the truth."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/powerpost/congressman-told-woman-he-would-report-her-to-capitol-police-if-she-exposed-his-secret-sex-life/2017/11/22/e3345862-cf10-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html

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Boom!

[Iliyah]

1. UGH

Well this is messed up. Will GOP leaders request a ethic investigation? Will the GOP members in congress do the same? Or will this go the route of t-rump and Moore.

[mcar]

2. Watch for smearing the woman in 3, 2 1....

[LisaL]

8. She has documented it with a recording.

[Dawson Leery]

3. But some unknown source on Facebook says that Franken grabbed her.

Last edited Sun Nov 26, 2017, 11:04 PM - Edit history (1)

[mcar]

4. What? That is insane

[videohead5]

7. One of the women

Said she voted for him anyway.

[hunter]

5. Okay. Now it's really ugly.

And people thought the picture was bad...

[mcar]

6. I'm mildly curious to see how he tries to talk his way

out of this.

[LisaL]

10. A very conservative republican doing this while married.

Wife asked for divorce in 2014. So he was married in 2011 when the woman and he first got in contact.

[spooky3]

13. And the article notes that she was comparing notes with other women with whom

he had relationships. It doesn't indicate the timeline, but it seems likely to me that at least some of those were occurring also in the years before he was separated in 2014. He owned up in the article only to having consensual relationships AFTER he was separated. It's looking to me as if he was worried not only about his political life but how he might fare in a divorce settlement if evidence showed he was playing around pre-2014, and this, and not retaliation or blackmail threats from the woman, might have driven him to tell her he would go to the police.

[Me.]

27. I Heard One Strategist This Morning Say It Was All About Revenge Porn

[LisaL]

9. Some thought it was just dandy.

[hunter]

15. I thought it was hypocritical...

...that a guy from the family values party was sending sexually explicit selfies to someone who was not his wife.

These days I doubt there are any Republican politicians left who are not hypocrites.

Turns out the story was much uglier than the ordinary Republican hypocrisy, and that Barton's abusive behavior is habitual, involving multiple women.

Sexually explicit selfies shared by CONSENTING adults are just not that big a deal to me. Threatening others from a position of power to cover up your own bad behavior is a big deal. I'll bet he abused and threatened his wife too.

[Sam McGee]

11. My mirror

I’m 73, retired military. I stay in pretty good shape with daily workouts and run/walk.
Still - there’s a full -length mirror in my bathroom that I don’t dare look at.
With all these charges against Weinstein, Franken, et al, I sneaked a peek at myself.
I can’t imagine a lady being attracted to my saggy, skinny ass and shriveled up . .
. . . well, anyway.
If I sent a nekkid photo of myself to someone, she’d fall our laughing.

WTF do these assholes have that I don’t?

[keithbvadu2]

12. Power - and a sense of entitlement

[Scarsdale]

17. One thing you DO have, which

is lacking in these "famiiy values" repubs. is SELF RESPECT. You live in reality, not in a fantasy world, where they seem to think being in DC is an aphrodisiac. When do they actually work? Their schedule during the Obama administration was really sparse, long weekends, many days off. The paycheck stayed the same. Maybe if they actually WORKED, they would not find time for these activities? When will Lyin' Ryan and McConnell's photos show up? Eeeeww! I am starting to understand why Pence's Mommy has to be with him everywhere he goes. It is not love, it is a matter of lack of trust.

[JanetLovesObama]

20. One thing I have noticed about all of these predators is

ALL of them are butt ugly. WITH clothes on. Don't even want to imagine what they look like naked. Does being very unattractive force these idiots to force themselves on women because the women don't give them a second look???? smh

[FakeNoose]

24. I agree with you

Once they get a little power, a little money, like becoming a Congressman, they use it for sex. Because these unattractive men feel they've been cheated and now they can beat the system and get their fair share. (Or something like that.) A normal healthy male would never act that way or think that way. The power of being a "bigshot" is enabling for these men.

What I say to that is, we need more WOMEN in elective office. Women do not think or act like this, ever. Women are conscientious, intelligent, hard working, and they possess real "family values" by understanding the important issues for families to thrive. When a woman is elected to the House or Senate, she will take the oath to uphold the Constitution and it's never taken lightly. Everything I say here goes for Democratic women, but I imagine there must be some Republican women who feel the same way.

[Skittles]

14. report her for what, exactly

[onenote]

19. Not clear. Possibly extortion. More information is needed.

[madville]

31. Under revenge porn or nonconsensual pornography laws

Texas and DC both have their own versions of those laws. Remember all the media coverage several years ago when younger women's nude and sex pictures were appearing on revenge porn sites, usually posted by their ex-boyfriends? Most states and DC passed laws making it either a felony or misdemeanor to distribute nude/intimate/sex images without the consent of the subject in the pictures.

She admitted to the WaPo reporter (who she also sent the images to) that she had shared the pictures with other women Barton had been involved with, apparently without his consent.

Since she was making recordings as well, that would depend on the jurisdictions involved. Both Texas and DC are "one party" states so only one person needs to know it's being recorded. Now if he was standing Maryland, they may have a case because all parties have to consent to the recording there.

The Capitol Police have confirmed that they have opened an investigation into the woman's actions.

[Skittles]

35. OK that makes sense

thanks

[VermontKevin]

16. I hope she sues him under section 1983.

[onenote]

18. Can you elaborate on what her claim would be under Sec. 1983

18 USC 1983: Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress....

[VermontKevin]

21. Threatening to use the Capitol Police inappropriately.

Trying to initiate a prosecution as a means to silence her. If that happened, I think she'd have a suit.

[onenote]

22. I don't think its a violation of Sec. 1983 to threaten to go to the police if you think someone

is engaging in illegal (or threatening to engage in illegal conduct). I doubt she'd prevail if she was deemed to have engaged in actual or threatened extortion.

We simply don't have a full set of facts to reach any conclusions.

[VermontKevin]

23. Oh I agree with you. That would be an appropriate use of the police.

I do wonder if she was trying to extort him.

[LisaL]

25. Considering she taped the conversation, pretty obvious she wanted to expose him, not extort him.

If a married man is having an affair with a woman, is that woman obligated to keep that affair private?

[Me.]

28. He Threatened Her According To The Taped REcording Acquired By WaPo

[Irish_Dem]

26. So Capitol Police the goon squad, and taxpayer legal slush fund.

So congressman free to commit crimes as much as they like.

[xor]

29. Am I missing something, because this seems different than everything else

These two seemed to have had a consensual relationship and now she is releasing photos and messages they sent to each other. That seems a bit messed up regardless of what the congressman's political leanings are. I also saw nude photos of him were released. That comes off a lot like revenge porn, and that's not cool in any case. The lady wasn't forced into this, nor was she underage. At most he seems to have possibility cheated on his wife. Which is shitty, but that's a private matter for them.

[LisaL]

30. There are politicians who have resigned over certain behavior even if such behavior wasn't illegal.

So I am not sure what you think you are missing? The woman isn't alleging it wasn't consensual. But she was having a relationship with this guy while the guy was married. The guy is a very conservative republican. You don't think his voters deserve to know?

[xor]

32. I know it happens, but I don't really agree with personal matters being made public

I never have liked it. This is the same stuff that gave us the whole Bill Clinton nonsense when he was president. I get the urge to stick it to hypocritical republicans who don't practice what they preach, but in my ideal world no one would give any cares about the legal consensual acts that people do in private.

Also, more specifically to this I find it distasteful that she released the nude photos that he sent her in confidentiality. I don't think anyone here would accept that if it was anyone else.

[LisaL]

33. If somebody is having an affair, and it goes sour, I don't think

they should have a reasonable expectations that that affair will remain private. That's the risk he was apparently willing to take. And to keep the record straight, she denies she is the one who released the photo.

[xor]

34. I just don't like it and I don't like how we (the public) is so obsessed with it

I'm not saying it should be illegal for people to make it public or anything. Well, it should be if there was extortion or some other illegal actions connected to it.

I wasn't aware she was denying releasing the photos. I hope she's telling the truth about that, because that's probably something that could be considered breaking the law.

[Skittles]

37. repukes who scream FAMILY VALUES

that makes it a matter other than private

HYPOCRISY!!!

[Skittles]

36. "undercover relationship"

yeah that sounds kosher