WASHINGTON – An aide to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley resigned Friday night after NBC News learned he had been accused of sexual harassment at a previous job, according to media reports.

Garrett Ventry served as a communications adviser to Grassley, helping the Senate Judiciary Committee with the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has himself been accused of sexual assault.

Ventry did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. A spokesman for Grassley did not respond immediately to emailed questions.

NBC News and The Washington Post reported that Ventry denied the sexual harassment allegation but resigned from the committee so as not to distract from the GOP push for Kavanaugh's confirmation.

“Garrett was one of several temporary staff brought on to assist in the committee’s consideration of the Supreme Court nomination, a team that has done outstanding work,” a committee spokesman told The Washington Post on Saturday. “While he strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee.”

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NBC News reported that Ventry was fired from a previous job as a social media adviser for North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell in 2017.

“Mr. Ventry did work in my office and he’s no longer there, he moved on,” Bell told NBC News. He declined to detail the reason for Ventry's firing.

NBC, citing unnamed sources, said Ventry was terminated from Bell’s office after "parts of his résumé were found to have been embellished, and because he faced an accusation of sexual harassment from a female employee of the North Carolina General Assembly's Republican staff."

Grassley and other Senate Republicans are in delicate negotiations with Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, about her possible testimony before the Judiciary Committee.

Ford has alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.