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Sheila Jackson Lee Steps Down From Two Powerful Posts — But Not From Congress

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, is stepping down from her two most powerful roles within congressional and House Democratic circles.
Associated Press
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, is stepping down from her two most powerful roles within congressional and House Democratic circles.

 

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, is stepping down from her two most powerful roles within congressional and House Democratic circles.

The 13-term congresswoman will no longer serve as the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's board chairwoman and will temporarily step aside from her position as chair on the Judiciary Committee's crime, terrorism, homeland security and investigations subcommittee, according to the New York Times.

At issue is her spring 2018 termination of a staffer known in court filings as "Jane Doe," who alleged that a supervising CBCF staffer raped her in 2015 when she was an intern for the foundation. Doe later went to work for Jackson Lee and claims that she informed the congresswoman's chief of staff that she planned to pursue legal action against the CBCF staffer and was fired several weeks later, according to BuzzFeed News — which first reported last week that the woman was suing Jackson Lee's office and the CBCF over the matter.

The report threw Jackson Lee's status within the House Democratic world into doubt, and several reports have since surfaced stating that CBCF officials pushed to remove her from that post.

The CBCF is a leadership program for young African-Americans that offers fellowships and scholarships. It is closely tied to the powerful Congressional Black Caucus.

Gabe Schneider contributed to this report.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.

Abby Livingston joined the Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington Bureau Chief. Previously, she covered political campaigns, House leadership and Congress for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. She grew up in Fort Worth and has appeared in an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." Abby pitched and produced political segments for CNN and worked as an editor for The Hotline, National Journal’s campaign tipsheet. Abby began her journalism career as a desk assistant at NBC News in Washington, working her way up to the political unit, where she researched stories for Nightly News, the Today Show and Meet the Press. In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history —Ed.) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.