Rubio chief of staff Clint Reed dismissed

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. has dismissed his chief of staff, Clint Reed, a longtime Arkansas political operative who served on Rubio’s presidential and Senate campaigns in 2016.

Rubio, a Republican, issued a statement late Saturday night that read:

“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.

“By early this afternoon, I had sufficient evidence to conclude that while employed by this office, my Chief of Staff had violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates. I further concluded that this led to actions which in my judgement amounted to threats to withhold employment benefits.

“This evening, I traveled from Florida to Washington D.C. and terminated his employment effective immediately.

“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.”

Reed did not respond to a request for comment.

His political career in Arkansas was notable. Reed previously served as executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas during the 2000’s. He later joined Impact Management Group as a partner, and he was a contributor to Talk Business & Politics.

Reed worked on a number of local, state, regional and national GOP campaigns, most recently leading presidential primary efforts for Rubio in Iowa and Florida as well as Rubio’s successful U.S. Senate re-election in 2016.