Days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) brought an unexpected guest to a congressional dinner in Brussels, according to multiple people familiar with the trip. Some of Costa’s colleagues on the 2022 congressional delegation worried the attractive young woman with him may have been a Russian honeypot.
The CODEL was in Belgium from Feb. 18 to 24, 2022, for a NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
According to one source, Costa explained the woman’s presence by telling the group he “already knew” her and that she happened to be in Brussels at the time. The source called that explanation “complete bullshit” and said Costa brought her to the hotel where the dinner was held.
Two sources familiar with the exchange said the woman indicated she was Polish. A colleague on the trip who speaks Polish tried talking with her and said she did not appear to understand him. A third source, present at the dinner but not the language exchange, later heard colleagues discuss the incident and recalled a different version of her claimed nationality: that the woman presented herself as Ukrainian and could not speak Ukrainian.
“It became blatantly obvious that she was probably a Russian asset,” one source said.
A second person who was there confirmed that the woman did not understand Polish despite the nationality she claimed. Asked whether they believed she was a honeypot, that person said, “I can’t confirm what she was.”
Costa disputed the account and said the guest was Ukrainian.
“These claims are baseless. We are talking about hearsay surrounding a dinner that took place four years ago, involving a Ukrainian guest who had permission from the CODEL chair to attend,” he said in a statement. “In the four years since, not one of my colleagues on that CODEL raised these supposed concerns with me. If my colleagues believed there was a concern, they had an obligation to raise it through the appropriate channels at the time. They did not.”
The delegation was led by then-Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), then president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Connolly died in May 2025.
The woman’s identity could not be independently established. Costa declined to provide her name.
It is not the first time questions have been raised about Costa’s conduct with young women. In May, The Washington Sun reported that House ethics officials investigated Costa over allegations he made inappropriate advances to two congressional interns. A former House Democratic staffer filed a complaint in early 2023 saying Costa behaved inappropriately with her in February 2020, when she was a 22-year-old intern for another lawmaker. She also reported witnessing Costa act inappropriately with another female intern in December 2021, two months before the Brussels trip.
The case was dismissed. Costa has denied wrongdoing. A spokesperson said the Office of Congressional Conduct recommended dismissal and the Ethics Committee voted unanimously to dismiss the matter.
Costa also came under fire in 1986 as a California assemblyman. The Los Angeles Times reported that he apologized after offering to pay a woman for sex. She was wearing a police wire, and a 19-year-old sex worker was with him at the time.
Costa, 74, has represented California’s Central Valley in Congress since 2005. He has never lost a general election.
