CNN’s Manu Raju Grills Ben Cardin Over Ex-Staffer’s Senate Porn Video: ‘How Did He Get In There?’

X/@mkraju

CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju interrogated Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) on Monday after one of his staffers was fired for filming a pornographic video in a Senate hearing room.

Senate staffer Aidan Maese-Czeropski left Cardin’s employment last week after the video filmed in one of the Senate’s hearing rooms was leaked to the Daily Caller.

After CNN asked Cardin whether his office had booked the Senate hearing room at the time the pornographic video was made, the senator claimed, “I don’t know the details.”

“How did he get in there?” questioned Raju, to which Cardin replied, “I don’t know the details.”

Cardin continued, “My knowledge of this was over the weekend when I learned about it, made sure that he was separated – so he left the Senate employment – and the appropriate steps were taken from the point of view of our office.”

After Raju asked, “Did he exhibit any unusual behavior while he was working in the office?” Cardin replied, “I would not be the right one to–”

Pressed, “Did you know him very well?” the senator responded, “These are personal issues and I would not be the right person– I’m not gonna– I’m just not gonna get into personal issues.”

On whether charges would be filed against the staffer, Cardin told CNN that he would not “get into personal investigation issues.”

Cardin did state, however, that his office would “absolutely” be cooperating with Capitol Police on the matter.

While Cardin acknowledged that he knew all his staffers personally, he refused to say whether he knew Maese-Czeropski well.

“I’m not going to get into my relationship with staff people,” Cardin declared.

At the end of the interview, Raju questioned, “That looks like a legit video, right?”

“I don’t know,” Cardin answered. “I’m not gonna get into that ’cause its not– that’s something that’ll be investigated, I guess. I don’t know.”