LinkedIn (Aidan Maese Czeropski) Aidan Maese Czeropski.
Aidan Maese-Czeropski is a former legislative aide for United States Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) who has released a statement responding to accusations in two online controversies, one of which involves a graphic video that is being investigated by the U.S. Capitol police.
Cardin’s office told Heavy in an email Saturday after the video went viral that Maese-Czeropski is no longer working for the U.S. Senate, declining further comment.
Ben Cardin office
The first controversy involves accusations from Jewish Congressman Max Miller that Aidan Maese-Czeropski was the staffer who confronted Miller in the Cannon Office Building and said, “Free Palestine.” The second controversy involves accusations relating to a widely circulated video that appears to show a man having sex with another unidentified man in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room in Washington D.C. Important hearings are conducted in that room; for example, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently appeared during an FBI oversight hearing, and a hearing on gun violence was held in the room.
Heavy had asked Cardin’s office whether they deny that Maese-Czeropski is the person in the video or is the person who made the comment to Miller, but they did not respond to that part specifically.
HeavyCapitol police statement.
The Capitol Police told Heavy in an emailed statement: “We can not confirm details regarding the people in the video. We are aware and looking into this.”
Maese-Czeropski posted a response on his LinkedIn page, saying he is exploring “legal options.” Cardin’s office told the Washington Examiner in a statement, “We have seen media reports. As this is a personnel matter and under review, we will not be commenting further at this time.” Cardin chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to the Examiner.
The Washington Examiner also contacted the U.S. Capitol Police about the video showing “explicit sexual activity” and wrote that the Capitol Police responded, “We are aware and looking into this.” The Advocate also reported that Capitol police are investigating the matter and contacted Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who did not respond to the site. Heavy has contacted Maese-Czeropski but has not yet received a response.
Maese-Czeropski once appeared in a campaign ad video for President Joe Biden. “Thank you for including my son, Aidan Maese-Czeropski, in your thoughtful message to everyone who has supported you. He has worked tirelessly with the DNC of Virginia. Congratulations to All!!” his mother wrote on X, sharing the video and a post by Biden that reads, “From the bottom of my heart: thank you.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Aidan Maese-Czeropski Wrote in the Statement That He is Being ‘Attacked for Who I Love to Pursue a Political Agenda’ & Denied Having an ‘Opportunity or Cause’ to Yell at or Confront Congressman Max Miller
LinkedIn (Aidan Maese-Czeropski)Aidan Maese-Czeropski statement.
Maese-Czeropski posted the statement to his LinkedIn page on December 15 as the controversies blew up on X.
“This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda,” he wrote.
“While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters,” he continued.
“As for the accusations regarding Congressman Max Miller, I have never seen the congressman and had no opportunity or cause to yell or confront him.”
On his comment thread, some people defended Maese-Czeropski, while other people did not. “There is limited evidence to verify the authenticity of the video. The video’s origin is questionable, and all identifying characteristics are either blurred or obscured,” wrote one man, noting that it has not been proven that Maese-Czeropski is the man seen in the video.
“How shameful. The idea of hiding behind the gay community to justify such an inappropriate action. I do a very similar job here in Italy and as a gay man I am extremely horrified and disgusted by the lack of accountability in your words,” wrote another.
Heavy is not embedding or linking to the video because of its graphic nature. It is widely available on X.
Heavy has reached out to Cardin’s office for comment by phone and email. Heavy also reached out to the Capitol Police and to Maese-Czeropski through his LinkedIn page, asking whether he specifically denies being the man in the video and whether he denies saying “Free Palestine” in the Cannon Office Building. Heavy also asked whether he would like to make further comment.
Maese-Czeropski has an X page but it only has a few political tweets and nothing about the controversies. Public records say he is 24 years old and give his full name as Aidan Santos Maese-Czeropski. Facebook pages in his name appear to have been deleted. Heavy has not located an Instagram page for Maese-Czeropski; a page in the name Aidan Santos appears to be deleted.
He also appears to have an adult-content Reddit page in a name too graphic to reprint. It only has a single photo on it.
2. Congressman Max Miller Has Accused Aidan Maese-Czeropski of Being the ‘Visibly Shaken’ Staffer Who Said ‘Free Palestine’ to Him in Front of a Reporter for NBC News
Snapshot from the halls of the Hill: a House staffer just passed by GOP Rep. Max Miller —who is Jewish and has been supportive of sending aide to Israel— and said “free Palestine.” Pretty rare and stunning to see staff challenge members to their faces this way.
The Washington Free Beacon interviewed Republican Congressman Max Miller and reported that Miller said he was confronted by a staffer while speaking with NBC News reporter Ali Vitali outside of a coffee shop in the Cannon Office Building.
“We’re just having a casual conversation, and out of nowhere, this guy beelines up to me visibly shaking—he’s very upset in my presence because he’s a snowflake,” Miller told the Free Beacon. “And he just comes right back up to me and was like, ‘Free Palestine.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ … I’m not going to give him a reaction because that’s what he wants.”
Miller told the Free Beacon that Vitali was “like, ‘Wow, that was blatant anti-Semitism from a staffer, and you’re a member of Congress.’ And I said, ‘Ali, this happens to me every day. … And I hope that you say something about it.’”
The original story did not name the staffer. However, Miller later accused Maese-Czeropski of being the staffer in an interview with the Daily Caller. “Miller confirmed with the Daily Caller that the staffer’s name is Aidan Maese-Czeropski,” the Daily Caller reported.
The Daily Caller wrote that Cardin’s office responded, “Are you sure you have the correct person? Having seen press reports, I understood this was a House staffer. Also, the person you mention is much more junior than an LD, so perhaps there was a mix up in identification, as well? Additional information would be of help.” When the Daily Caller told Cardin’s office that Miller had named Maese-Czeropski, “They did not respond,” the Daily Caller reported, of the confrontation with Miller.
On December 13, Vitali wrote on X, “Snapshot from the halls of the Hill: a House staffer just passed by GOP Rep. Max Miller —who is Jewish and has been supportive of sending aide to Israel— and said ‘free Palestine.’ Pretty rare and stunning to see staff challenge members to their faces this way.” Her post did not name the staffer.
3. Another Congressman Wrote a Post Slamming Ben Cardin’s Office Over the Video, Which Reports Say Shows the Judiciary Room at the U.S. Senate
I am absolutely positive that the Senate will be announcing their bipartisan condemnation of a staffer having sex and filming it in a senate committee room.
Waiting.
Still waiting.
Bueller, Bueller?
The Daily Caller, a conservative site, first published a blurred-out version of the video. In a story, the Daily Caller identified the room in the video as “Senate room Hart 216- The Judiciary Room.” The room holds many important meetings, according to the U.S. Senate website.
Republican Congressman Mike Collins wrote on X after the video started going viral, “Cardin staff wildin’. Making porn at work and yelling ‘free Palestine’ at a Jewish congressman? I have a question: how long would Cardin’s filmmaker last in a free Palestine?”
Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden also posted on X about the video, although he did not name the staffer. “I am absolutely positive that the Senate will be announcing their bipartisan condemnation of a staffer having sex and filming it in a Senate committee room,” he wrote. “Waiting. Still waiting. Bueller, Bueller?”
The video’s existence was first reported by The Spectator site. That site reported that it had discovered a Cardin staffer’s alternate but public X page. “The images and videos are explicit — and conspicuously and deliberately contain the staffer’s face,” the site wrote, in a story headlined, “Please stop taking nudes in the halls of Congress.” The story said that one photo “appears to be a conference room in the Hart Senate Office Building, where his boss’s office is located” and used a Capitol dome icon to cover a portion of the staffer’s body. The article did not name the staffer.
The X page was in the name of “Andre” but is now deleted. Screenshots from that X page include one that reads, “Happy decadence!” Saved photos from the page show extremely graphic sexual content, and the person’s face is visible in them. Heavy has reviewed them but is not linking to the photos because they are so explicit.
However, Maese-Czeropski has been accused by some conservative news sites of being the staffer in the video, such as Newsmax, although the site did not give a source for the identification accusation. He was also accused of being the man in the video in an article by the Washington Examiner. Maese-Czeropski was also named as the person accused of being in the video by the site LGBTQ Nation in a story that starts, “An explicit video of two men having sexual intercourse in a U.S. Senate hearing room has caused right-wing media and influencers to blame LGBTQ+ people for the incident.” That article says the act in the video took place on an “elevated hearing room table.”
Heavy has not independently verified the video or the identity of anyone in it.
4. Aidan Maese Czeropski Worked on Immigration Issues for Senator Dianne Feinstein as an Intern Before Working for Senator Ben Cardin
From the bottom of my heart: thank you.
Maese-Czeropski has worked in the Office of Cardin for two months as a legislative aide in the areas of “foreign policy, tax and trade,” according to his LinkedIn page.
Before that, he was a foreign policy legislative correspondent for Cardin for one year and seven months and a staff assistant for eight months for Cardin, starting in October 2021. He was previously a climate and energy fellow for Friends of the Earth for seven months, his LinkedIn page says. Maese-Czeropski’s salary was just over $25,000 a year as a legislative correspondent, according to Legistorm.
“Engages with diverse coalition groups, including various Native American tribes and dozens of congressional offices, to analyze the effects of local pollution problems,” his page says. “Authored research papers on the socioeconomic effects of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of a team that successfully lobbied for the cancellation of oil lease sales.”
Maese-Czeropski previously worked as an intern for Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein in San Francisco, writing reports and briefs she used in official releases, contacting federal immigration agencies and constituents “to appeal deportations and other rulings,” and organizing archives.
5. Aidan Maese-Czeropski Worked as a Field Organizer for the Democratic Party of Virginia & Was a High School Athlete in California
Getty FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a hearing before Senate Judiciary Committee at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill August 4, 2022 in Washington, DC. The committee held a hearing on “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Maese-Czeropski worked as a field organizer for the Democratic Party of Virginia from August through November 2020, his LinkedIn page says.
“Personally recruited a team of over 400 volunteers in Loudoun County, Virginia that canvassed tens of thousands of Virginians and Pennsylvanians,” he wrote, adding that he also “Spearheaded statewide Latino outreach through the ‘Todos con Biden’ program that registered hundreds of new voters and canvassed over 3,000 Spanish speaking Virginians” and “Managed the daily schedules and set weekly canvass and volunteer training goals for 9 college fellows.”
Maese-Czeropski also worked as a student fundraiser for Ruffalo Noel Levitz, his page says. He was a project supervisor for “Get Involved Palo Alto,” facilitating collaboration between high school interns and adult professionals. He graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a BS in Society and Environment and a GPA of 3.96/4.0. He listed “B.S. Society & Environment, July 2020” and Phi Beta Kappa Honors.
He was a research assistant at the University of California Berkeley College of Natural Resources studying the “effects of arthropod interactions in desert ecosystems.” He was a research assistant for the Milton S. Eisenhower Library System in Maryland, the LinkedIn page says.
He also lists John Hopkins University on his LinkedIn page, saying he studied “international studies and global environmental change and sustainability” with a GPA of 3.83/4.0.
According to his LinkedIn page, Maese-Czeropski graduated in 2017 from Palo Alto High School. “Activities and societies: Proof Magazine (Editor-in-Chief), The Paly Voice (News Editor), Model United Nations (Secretary), clickPA (Content Editor), Get Involved Palo Alto (Intern), Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula (Intern), Camp MAC (Counselor), Speech & Debate, Badminton, Cross Country, Track & Field,” his LinkedIn page says.
He received several awards and scholarships. “Recognized by the National Hispanic Recognition Program for performing in the top 2% of all Hispanic and Latino students on the PSAT,” his page says, as well as, “received the Gold President’s Award for Community Service for performing over 100 hours of community service in a one year period.”