Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks dodged reporters Wednesday when they tried to question him about the timing and source of $55,000 in personal loans he neglected to make public.As an NY1 camera rolled at the House's Rayburn office building, Meeks tried to duck into an elevator, saying he had to get to a committee meeting.
The door closed on him, so he pivoted for another elevator while ignoring questions about who loaned him the money.
Asked if he was going to file new disclosure statements, he said, "Everything that I am required to do, I will do."
Later in the day, his chief of staff, Sophia King, called the Daily News to say Meeks plans to file a "clarification" to his amendment spelling out where he got the money.
The News first revealed Sunday that Meeks hid from public view two "personal loans" totaling $55,000, one he received in 2007 and another in 2008. Meeks was legally required to report the loans in the year he received them, but he did not list them on his financial disclosure reports for those years.
He did finally come clean on 2009 reports, made public just last week.
He refused to tell The News the source or terms of the loans.
King said Wednesday one loan for $40,000 came from a Queens businessman, Ed Ahmad, in 2007. It grew to $50,000 by 2009, but she refused to say why. The second, for $15,000, came from the Congressional Federal Credit Union in 2008.
King declined to detail the loans or say why Meeks needed the money.
Sources familiar with the matter say the loans are related to an $830,000 home Meeks bought in 2006 in Jamaica.