Woman Who Reached Settlement With Conyers Comes Forward

The woman whose settlement with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) was revealed by BuzzFeed News last week, came forward on Thursday morning in an interview on NBC’s “Today.”

Marion Brown, a former staffer for Conyers, told “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie that she endured years of sexual harassment from Conyers but remained in the job because she otherwise enjoyed her work and she needed to support her family. Brown is one of several former female employees of Conyers’ office who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

“It was sexual harassment, violating — violating my body, propositioning me, inviting me to hotels with the guise of discussing business and then proposition me for sex,” Brown said Thursday morning. “He’s just violated my body, he’s touched me in different ways. It was very uncomfortable and very unprofessional.”

Brown described one incident in 2005 when Conyers allegedly invited her to a Chicago hotel room where she found him dressed only in his underwear.

“He asked me to satisfy to him sexually. He pointed to areas — genital areas of his body and asked me to touch him,” she said on “Today.”

She said she was “frozen” and “shocked.”

“I did tell him that I was not going to do that and I didn’t feel comfortable,” Brown said.

Brown said that Conyers’ behavior continued for years, even after she complained to the congressman’s chief of staff at the time.

She told NBC that she signed a nondisclosure agreement when she reached a settlement with Conyers. Brown said she decided to speak out even though she has not been released from that agreement.

“I felt it was worth the risk to stand up for all the women in the workforce that are voiceless,” she said.

Conyers has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer said Wednesday that the congressman does not yet have any plans to resign.

Watch the interview via NBC: