Oregon's David Wu Quitting Congress Over Sex Allegations

Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon announced on Tuesday that he would be resigning from Congress, following allegations of sex encounter with a teenage girl.

There were reports last week about the 18-year-old daughter of a longtime friend and campaign donor calling the Congressman's office earlier this year, and accusing him of an unwanted sexual encounter over Thanksgiving.

Wu earlier had already announced that he is not willing to seek re-election, but the pressure on him to step down kept increasing. Soon after the allegations were made, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi had requested an immediate investigation on Wu's conduct by the House Ethics Committee.

56-year-old Wu, however, claims that the sexual encounter was consensual, according to a Portland Oregonian report.

Wu, a seven-term member of Congress, said he would resign his post, which he called "the greatest privilege of my life."

"I cannot care for my family the way I wish while serving in Congress and fighting these very serious allegations," Wu said in a statement. "The well-being of my children must come before anything else," an sfgate report stated.

Wu's alleged sex scandal is the second in just two months to have rocked Democrats in Congress. Rep. Anthony Weiner, last month had to step down after he admitted sending lewd photos of himself to a women online.

Wu said he will quit once the debt-ceiling crisis is resolved. The Yale-educated lawyer was elected to Congress in 1998 as the first Chinese-American to serve in the House, a Heraldnet report stated.