Who Is Clint Reed? Marco Rubio Fires His Chief Of Staff

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio announced that he’s fired Chief of Staff Clint Reed over allegations of improper conduct that violated the integrity and policy of his office. Rubio said he has sufficient evidence to support the claims made against Reed.

Rubio hired Reed in December as his chief of staff after the latter successfully served as Rubio's campaign manager for the senate election in 2016. Reed succeeded his predecessor Alberto Martinez, who served as Rubio’s chief of staff since 2014. Martinez became the senior adviser to Rubio in 2016.

Reed managed Rubio's successful Senate re-election campaign, which won him tremendous amount of votes than any candidate in Florida’s history. In the past, he had managed Rubio's presidential primary campaigns in Iowa and Florida, which was later suspended by Rubio.

When Reed was hired as a campaign manager in 2016, Rubio issued a statement announcing the staff changes in his office. He said “For over a year, I’ve gotten to know and work closely with Clint on my campaigns, including two in Florida. He’s a superb manager who loves Florida, has earned my trust, and relishes the challenge of solving tough problems.”

Rubio added, “The next six years will undoubtedly present many challenges but also incredible opportunities to make an even bigger difference in the lives of Floridians and people throughout the country, and I’m excited to be surrounded with a team of devoted professionals who are passionate about public service.”

On Saturday, Rubio said he was made aware of the claims against his chief of staff Friday afternoon. He said in a statement, “Yesterday afternoon, I was made aware, for the first time, of allegations of improper conduct by my Chief of Staff while under the employment of my office. These allegations were reported directly to me instead of our General Counsel or the Congressional Office of Compliance. Immediately upon receiving this complaint, I along with our General Counsel, began an investigation of this matter.”

Rubio said the action was taken after determining there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Reed violated office policies regarding “proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates,” which in his judgment led to actions by threatening to withhold employee benefits.

On Saturday, Rubio traveled from Florida to Washington D.C. and fired Reed from the job.

“We have taken steps to ensure that those impacted by this conduct have access to any services they may require now or in the future. Pursuant to the wishes of those victimized by this conduct, we will not be disclosing any further details about the incidents which occurred. We will be formally notifying the appropriate Congressional and Senate administrative offices of this matter when they return to work Monday morning,” Rubio said.

The news marks one of many sexual misconduct allegations strewn across the political landscape of the country in the recent past, wherein a number of senior staffers were accused of sexual misconduct. In a recent incident, there were reports that Hillary Clinton's senior adviser Burns Strider grossly abused his power by sexually harassing a subordinate who was later moved to a different job while he was allowed to stay in his position.