HOUSTON — Texas State Representative Jolanda Jones is firing back after staffers who resigned last week leveled accusations against her.
Editor's note: The main video in this story is from a previous report.
In their resignation letter, the three staffers accused Jones of showing physically threatening behavior, which they said had them concerned for their safety. They also said Jones threatened to fire them if they didn’t comply with her demands. Also included in the allegations, was that Jones’ son was having an inappropriate relationship with an intern.
Those allegations are under investigation, according to House Speaker Dade Phelan’s office.
In her response, Jones said she spoke with the intern, who denies any wrongdoing.
"My ‘intern’ is a 26-year-old woman with two degrees, one of which is a graduate degree and who is currently working on her doctorate degree," her response said. "While the letter says that the ‘intern’ ‘is significantly younger than him,’ my ‘intern is 26 and my son is 31.’"
Jones went on to say that she has permission to share that the person referred to as an intern in the resignation letter is a victim of sexual assault and that including her in the allegations “have caused a revictimization and retraumatization of her.”
As for the allegations against her son, she said he also denied anything inappropriate and that allegations against him were made by people making assumptions without evidence.