A top official at the Office of Congressional Ethics, which investigates allegations of misconduct against lawmakers, has been accused of assaulting and verbally abusing two women during a drunken bar brawl in 2015, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania.
Omar Ashmawy, the office’s staff director and chief counselor, was at the Dimmick Inn in Milford, Penn., when he allegedly became “verbally abusive” towards the wife of the owner of the restaurant, Dawn Jorgenson, and a female bartender, alleges the complaint, which was first obtained by Foreign Policy.
“Ashmawy, who appeared to be visibly intoxicated, then unjustifiably threw and/or pushed Mrs. Jorgenson down to the floor and/or into the hostess stand,” says the lawsuit, which was filed by Greg Martucci in September.
Martucci said he also saw Ashmawy assault Jorgenson’s pal, Christina Floyd, according to the papers. At one point, he pulled Ashmawy away and took him “outside away from the scene of the altercation,” the lawsuit says.
Ashmawy was never arrested or charged with a crime, but months later, Martucci and two other men were slapped with assault charges.
“[He] falsely claimed that Plaintiff and one to two other men assaulted him, choked him, threw him to the ground, and kicked him,” the court papers say. “[He] falsely claimed that he lost sight in one eye and suffered fractures.”
Martucci also accused Ashmawy of “threatening to use his position as Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics to induce a criminal proceeding to be brought against Plaintiff and/or others.”
The criminal charges against Martucci were expunged in Oct. 2016, the papers say.
“To be clear, I did not harass anyone that evening, physically or verbally,” Ashmawy told Foreign Policy in a statement. “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.”
A conference between the parties has been scheduled for Jan. 5.