In another chamber yesterday...

Housing regulator Mel Watt forcefully defended himself from sexual harassment allegations on Thursday, suggesting that his accuser had manipulated their encounters in a “systematic” effort to build a lawsuit by misconstruing his “efforts to advise and mentor her.”

Watt, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told his former colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee that he is a “big supporter of the #MeToo movement … but it cannot be a substitute for going through the legal process.”

Watt spoke hours after agency employee Simone Grimes testified to the committee that he had repeatedly made sexual advances during conversations about salary concerns, leaving her feeling “unsafe and vulnerable.”

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Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) spoke in unusually personal terms, reflecting the extraordinary cultural moment that spurred two simultaneous hearings Thursday featuring women bringing sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men.

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In his testimony, Watt floated the possibility that the 15 tapes Grimes told the committee would support her claims had been manipulated.

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Grimes, an FHFA special adviser, filed a formal complaint earlier this year alleging that Watt repeatedly turned their conversations to sexual topics when she tried to discuss a pay raise.

Watt “more than once implied that his advances were linked to my ability to receive promotions and pay increases,” Grimes told the committee earlier Thursday, noting that the “frequency” of his advances and advice from friends in the security industry led her to start taping her encounters with him.

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POLITICO obtained partial transcripts of some of Grimes' tapes in July, including one 2016 conversation in which Watt steered the discussion to his feelings for Grimes. In a separate encounter, Watt asked about a tattoo on her ankle, saying, “If I kissed that one would it lead to more?"

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When Rep. Dave Trott (R-Mich.) quoted one of the transcripts back to Watt – in which Watt told Grimes he wanted to “explore” their “attraction” and that “there are four types of attraction: emotional, spiritual, sexual or of friendship” – Watt did not dispute its accuracy.

“I absolutely think that if you’re going to mentor somebody you’ve got to know what they are thinking,” Watt said.

“About attraction?” Trott responded, noting he’s had “a lot of mentees” without talking about attraction.

“Well then you haven’t mentored them and figured out — If they are giving the wrong vibrations and you are not clear with them what the expectations are, I think you’ve got problems,” Watt said.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) called that response “probably the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in Congress.”

  Politico

He hasn't been listening. But, yes. Ridiculous.

And perhaps he hadn't yet heard this one:

Watt has argued that his status as a presidential appointee exempts him from agency anti-harassment rules for employees.

“The statute says the policies don’t apply to me; I don’t know how many more times I can tell you that,” Watt, whose term ends in January, said at one point.