Omar Ashmawy, staff director and chief counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics, has been accused in a lawsuit of physically assaulting and abusing a woman in Pennsylvania. The suit stems from a late night altercation in a bar in which Ashmawy was seen sexually harassing a bartender. When his sexual advances were rebuffed, Ashmawy became violent and abusive toward the woman.

Ashmawy, who has been investigating sexual harassment allegations against members of Congress, then used his office to try and influence local officials who were investigating the incident at the bar.

Foreign Policy:

“To be clear, I did not harass anyone that evening, physically or verbally,” he wrote in a statement to FP. “To the contrary, I was the victim of a wholly unprovoked assault for which those responsible were investigated, arrested and charged. Any allegation to the contrary is unequivocally false.”

The lawsuit, previously unreported, stems from Feb. 14, 2015 — Valentine’s Day. The evening appeared to start off well for Ashmawy: a nearly $400 dinner with his girlfriend at an upscale restaurant in Milford, followed by late-night drinks at a local bar.

It ended, however, with him bruised and bloody in the back of a police car.

The lawsuit, filed by one of the men who was involved in the fight, includes witness testimony from eyewitnesses who described Ashmawy’s behavior:

According to the complaint, Martucci on the night of Feb. 14, 2015, witnessed “an extremely violent and belligerent” Ashmawy become verbally abusive toward two women at Milford’s Dimmick Inn, Dawn Jorgenson — the wife of John Jorgenson, the owner of the bar — and Joey Lynn Smith, a bartender there.

Martucci also said he saw Ashmawy physically assaulting Dawn Jorgenson and Christina Floyd, another woman at the bar, a claim echoed in police statements given by the women and reviewed by FP.

According to a three-page statement dated March 12, 2015, Dawn Jorgenson said she witnessed Ashmawy “clearly sexually harassing” the bartender throughout the course of the evening and saw his behavior spiral toward physical violence. “You’ll give me drinks, but you won’t fuck me,” Ashmawy allegedly said to the bartender, according to Dawn Jorgenson’s written statement.

She said she then saw Ashmawy block the bartender with his body and curse at her, and grab her by the wrists. Dawn Jorgenson said when she tried to intervene, Ashmawy turned against her. “He’s holding my wrist so tightly that he falls down to the ground landing to the left of me,” she wrote in her statement.

She said her husband, John Jorgenson, came over to help and pulled Ashmawy away, taking him outside.

In statements given to police, the third woman, Christina Floyd, provided a similar account. “I watched each time Omar would come down and verbally sexually harass the bartender as he ordered drinks,” Floyd wrote in her statement, describing an increasingly angry Ashmawy confronting the bartender.

A real charmer, that one.

Ashmawy also sent a letter to the prosecutor in Pennsylvania demanding that those involved in the altercation be prosecuted. He sent the letter on his official House stationary:

An email reviewed by FP from Ashmawy, using his congressional affiliation, to the police chief and officials at the district attorney’s office accuses them of not handling the case properly.

“As of today it has been over five weeks since I was assaulted. To date, the police department’s investigation is not complete and charges have not been filed. I am deeply concerned,” he wrote in the email, which is signed with his congressional title and work mail address.

Ashmawy cites his injuries, which he said included a facial fracture and a “bruised and bloodied” eye.

In the same email, Ashmawy references his own work conducting investigations, and indicates that if charges aren’t filed the case might attract high-level attention in the capital.

This is a clear case of Ashmawy trying to intimidate local officials using the power of his office. 

So who watches the watchdog? Obviously, Ashmawy is unfit to serve in his current capacity. You can’t have someone accused of sexual harassment investigating congressmen accused of the same charge. But the bar incident occurred in 2015 and somehow, Ashmawy’s superiors never got wind of what happened that night. He has been investigating several congressmen, including Rep. John Conyers, who was forced to resign after several accusers came forward. Are those investigations now tainted because of his reported behavior?

The accusatory environment in which these charges of sexual assault are being brought demands investigators above reproach. Ashmawy fails that test and should be fired.

Conventional wisdom is that Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asleep at the wheel – from recusing himself unnecessarily from the Trump-Russia collusion investigation to doing nothing about the politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice.  He also gave free rein to his deputy A.G., Rod Rosenstein, who is in turn allowing Special Counsel Robert Mueller unlimited time, money, and jurisdiction to investigate President Trump’s entire life.

Last summer, Trump expressed disappointment in Sessions, calling him “beleaguered,” wondering why Sessions wasn’t looking into Hillary Clinton’s emails and true election chicanery.  Rudy Giuliani was floated as a possible replacement.  Was Trump truly upset, or was this a calculated head fake?

In a recent blog posting, American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson, referencing Sundance from Conservative Treehouse, made the case that the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General is where the real action is taking place.  Here was an explanation why Rosenstein gave evasive answers in recent congressional testimony and a suggestion that the OIG is laying out a case, slowly and methodically, with selective information release, before bringing the hammer down on the leakers and corruptocrats in the FBI and DOJ.

I want to take this a step farther, perhaps answering the question of where Jeff Sessions is and whether he is asleep, or just playing possum.  Perhaps I can explain why he is acting not as a Trumpian pit bull, but instead like Mister Rogers ready for his afternoon nap.

Jeff Sessions is a political appointee, appointed by President Trump.  The president, as we all know, is despised by Democrats, many establishment Republicans, and the media.  Any actions Trump or Sessions take will be viewed through the lens of obstruction of justice.  Firing Mueller or Rosenstein or shutting down the investigation would allow eager Democrats and NeverTrump Republicans to tut-tut over threats to the Constitution and to initiate impeachment proceedings.

Instead, by lying low, the OIG can carefully build a case.  The OIG is not a political office, but instead “[a] statutorily created independent entity whose mission is to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in DOJ programs and personnel.”  Above politics.  Beyond reproach.  As much as any government bureaucracy can be.

Jeff Sessions must keep his hands clean of this entire investigation, letting the OIG present its findings and recommendations.  If I.G. recommends prosecution, A.G. Sessions can follow the OIG recommendations and unleash the cannons on the swamp creatures.  Sure, the media and their Democrat allies will explode with rage, but it will be a politically independent organization making the recommendations, not the Trump administration, whether the president or his A.G.

Despite the left making this entirely political, for Trump to deliver a knockout punch, he has to let Lady Justice swing the axe.  He has to keep politics out of his counterpunch.

Will Rod Rosenstein be fired, as some fake news sources suggest?  Or is he in on the OIG sting operation?  Deliberately staying quiet so events can play out, as Sundance described?

For now, I give A.G. Sessions the benefit of the doubt, that for optical and political reasons, he is lying low.  For the OIG investigation to play out as desired, he has little choice.  With the OIG report due early next year, this may indeed be the calm before the storm.  Thousands of sealed indictments.  Members of Congress retiring or not seeing re-election.  Trump acting happy and confident, whether in speeches or on Twitter.

Further bolstering my theory is that Democrats are getting nervous.  The Mueller circus has made a critical pivot from Trump-Russia collusion to Obama-Clinton-FBI-DOJ collusion.  The Daily Caller reports, “Democrats mobilize against Rod Rosenstein as Inspector General investigation zeroes in on FBI.”  Turn on the light, and the cockroaches scurry. 

Trump has been viciously attacked from the day in 2015 when he announced his candidacy.  Like Superman, the bullets have bounced off his chest, wounding many of those who attacked him.  It’s likely that this entire investigation will have the same outcome.

I’m confident that President Trump has this well in hand, early on setting the stage for an upcoming reckoning – what Sundance calls “the big ugly.”

And Jeff Sessions, instead of being asleep, may be playing possum, lying in wait, ready to pounce when the moment is right.

Brian C Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based physician and writer.  Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.