A White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security was investigated over shocking claims that he deliberately set up a situation where a lower-ranking co-worker had to share a hotel room with him, according to a new report.
The incident involved Paul Ingrassia, a Trump appointee who once wrote for outlets like National Review, Human Events, and The Daily Caller. In July, Ingrassia and several DHS staffers were staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Politico reported Thursday night. But when the group arrived at the front desk, one female colleague learned she didn’t have a room at all. Instead, she was told she’d be staying with Ingrassia.
“Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually, the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said,” Politico wrote.
The woman, also a Trump appointee, was said to be taken aback. She resisted the arrangement at first but eventually gave in, worried about causing a scene. The two had known each other before their DHS roles, and they ended up sharing the same room, reportedly sleeping in separate beds.
Still, the story quickly spread inside DHS. “The fallout from the incident has been the talk of the upper echelons of DHS ever since,” Politico noted.
At one point, a human resources complaint was filed against Ingrassia over the alleged harassment. But that complaint was retracted just days later. Politico reported the woman feared possible retaliation if she pursued it further.
Ingrassia’s attorney, Edward Andrew Paltzik, firmly rejected the accusations, calling them baseless. “Mr. Ingrassia has never harassed any coworkers — female or otherwise, sexually or otherwise — in connection with any employment,” he told Politico in a statement.
The woman at the center of the claims also spoke directly to the outlet, making clear she did not feel harassed or unsafe. She stressed that she never filed a complaint herself.
“A colleague misjudged the situation and made claims of alleged harassment that are not true,” she said. “There was no wrongdoing.”
The conflicting accounts have fueled gossip within DHS and beyond, raising questions about what really happened at that hotel in Orlando. On one hand, several officials familiar with the episode claim Ingrassia intentionally canceled the woman’s room to force the arrangement. On the other hand, both Ingrassia and the woman involved insist that no harassment occurred and that the situation was blown out of proportion.
Despite the woman’s denial of any wrongdoing, Politico reported that whispers about the incident continue to ripple through senior DHS circles. For some, the fact that the initial complaint was retracted adds a layer of uncertainty. For others, the woman’s own words make it clear she was not uncomfortable and did not view Ingrassia’s actions as harassment.
Whether the Orlando hotel episode was a serious breach of professional conduct or simply a misunderstanding, it has become yet another messy chapter inside an agency where personal and political tensions often collide.