Inside Senate Hearing Room Where Leaked Sex Tape Was Recorded
The Senate hearing room where a staffer was recently caught filming amateur gay porn has been the scene of several historic events.
Even before the latest sex scandal, if the walls could talk they'd have a lot to say - from recalling former FBI director James Comey's testimony about Trump to the 9/11 hearings.
On Saturday, Democrat congressional aide Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin after the emergence of his tapes, which were reportedly filmed in Hart Senate Office Building room 216.
The room is steeped in history, including being the site of a series of Supreme Court Justice confirmation procedures for judges who have gone on to shape America's legal landscape.
But it was the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, know colloquially as the 9/11 Commission, which was perhaps the most poignant procedure to unfold in Hart 216.
On Saturday, Democrat Aidan Maese-Czeropski (pictured), 24, was fired by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin after the emergence of his tapes
The Congressional staffer is accused of filming an amateur gay porn video inside Hart Senate Office Building room 216
National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice is sworn in to testify under oath before the 9-11 commission in the Hart Senate office building on Capitol Hill in Washington April 8, 2004
Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC
It was launched to investigate the deadliest terror attack in world history, with a death toll of 2,996 people, and to set out how the US government could be better prepared to prevent it happening again.
The landmark case heard testimony from then-President George Bush, vice president Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and former president Bill Clinton.
More recently, Hart 216 heard testimony from former FBI director James Comey about his interactions with Donald Trump.
Comey savaged the former president in his 2017 testimony, detailing allegations of attempted corruption and repeated requests for him to pledge his 'loyalty' to him and to let go of certain FBI investigations.
The following year in September, Trump-nominee Brett Kavanaugh became a Supreme Court Associate following a fiery confirmation hearing in the same room.
His acceptance was anything but certain - it came after he faced allegations of sexual misconduct which he angrily denied during explosive statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On October 6, the full Senate confirmed Kavanaugh by a slim majority, with a vote of 50-48, despite the accusations made by Christine Blasey Ford and three other women.
Since the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg in 2020, Kavanaugh has come to be regarded as holding the pivotal vote on the court.
He was also the target of an abandoned assassination attempt by a psychologically-disturbed suspect who was outraged by the court's plans to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Another Supreme Court Associate who was influential in the major overhaul of abortion rights, Justice Samuel Alito, also had his confirmation hearings in the same room 12 years earlier.
The World Trade Center was an idea for decades that finally became a design of two 110-story towers in the 1960s. Built for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the 16-acre 'superblock' with its own zip code would have seven buildings
First responders work at ground zero after the September 11 attacks in New York
Hart 216 is steeped in history, including being the site of a series of Supreme Court Justice confirmation procedures for judges who have gone on to shape America's legal landscape
Alito was the judge who penned the 2022 majority vote for the Supreme Court to overturn its 1973 abortion rights decision, and he was reportedly the driving force behind the other justices voting for it.
He'd worked to craft legal strategy against abortion rights since his time as a Regan administration lawyer, according to sources and internal documents seen by the New York Times.
Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, who sided with Kavanaugh and Alito in the historic abortion vote, also had their confirmation hearings in Hart 216.
Confirmation hearings for Obama-era appointees Sonia Sotomayor xxx porno and Elena Kagan also took place in the same room, in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Liberal judge Sotomayor is the third woman, first woman of color, the first Hispanic, and first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court.
Also on the liberal wing, Kagan has clashed with conservatives like Kavanaugh, and along with Sotomayor she was one of the three judges who voted to uphold Roe v Wade.
Justice Stephen Breyer was the third judge who voted alongside them, and he stepped down last year to be replaced by Biden's appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who also had her confirmation hearings in Hart 216.
Kentanji Brown Jackson became the first black female Supreme Court justice in June 2022.
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