Brian Schubert's resignation comes the day after the House Ethics Committee panel opened up an investigative subcommittee to probe both Rep. Patrick Meehan and Schubert’s treatment of the woman who accused the two of sexual harassment. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images Rep. Dunn’s chief of staff resigns after alleged sexual harassment

Brian Schubert, chief of staff for Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), resigned Wednesday morning after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into alleged sexual harassment by him and his former boss, Rep. Patrick Meehan.

Meehan, a married Pennsylvania Republican, has announced that he will retire following news reports that he used taxpayer money to settle a harassment claim by a former staffer, as first reported by the New York Times in late January.


But in a story worthy of a soap opera, Meehan and Schubert, his former chief of staff, were both accused of harassing the same woman, according to sources familiar with the situation. Meehan let Schubert go in 2016 when he found out that Schubert expressed an unwanted romantic interest in the female staffer — only to make his own advances on the woman.

The Tallahassee, Fla. station WCTV first reported Schubert’s resignation.

Dunn, a freshman, hired Schubert upon his election in November 2016. It is unclear whether Dunn knew about harassment allegations in Meehan’s office when he chose him to lead his office.

“Brian Schubert resigned this morning,” Dunn’s office said in a statement. “It is Rep. Dunn’s policy to make no comments regarding personnel issues.”

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The resignation comes the day after the ethics panel opened up an investigative subcommittee to probe both Meehan and Schubert’s treatment of the woman. The committee in a release said they must determine if both men “engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment, retaliation, or misuse of official resources, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct.”

The woman left the office after Meehan began treating her adversely upon her rejection of his advances, including declaring in a love letter that she was a “soul mate.”

Meehan has said he did not have a sexual relationship with the woman, but he did admit to local Pennsylvania newspapers that he may have been cold to her upon learning that she was dating another man.