An explosive sex scandal that has rocked the US Congress worsened for governing Republicans, amid revelations of more emails suggesting a romantic relationship between a former Republican lawmaker and an underage congressional aide.
By
AFP

Source:
AFP
4 Oct 2006 - 12:00 AM  UPDATED 22 Aug 2013 - 12:18 PM

ABC television, which broke the scandal last week, published on its website new intimate email exchanges between former US Representative Mark Foley and a young, male congressional page, who exchanged Internet kisses and made plans for a future encounter.

Until Tuesday, most of the exchanges made public showed Mr Foley propositioning congressional pages, who did not appear to entirely return his advances.

But in an April 2003 message made public on Tuesday, Mr Foley invites the teen to come to his home so they can drink alcohol, an invitation enthusiastically accepted by the recipient.

A section of the same message redacted by ABC reportedly shows the exchange between Mr Foley and the youngster after having "cybersex."

ABC reported having received 52 separate emails and instant message communications between Mr Foley and the boys, all high school students under the age of 18.

The revelations, one of the biggest scandals to hit Congress in years, led to Mr Foley's resignation last week and is seen as jeopardising an already endangered Republican majority in Congress, with Democrats favoured to win the lion's share of House seats in November's midterm election according to many polls.

US President George W. Bush on Tuesday said he was "dismayed and shocked," in his first comments on the scandal.