WATCH: Gay GOP Candidate Accused of Harassment

Carl DeMaio, the gay Republican running for a congressional seat from San Diego, is facing accusations of sexual harassment, while DeMaio says his accuser is a plagiarist and a burglar.

CNN outlined the allegations, which have been circulating for a few months, in a lengthy report last night. "In a story of charges and counter charges, the one constant is this: they both insist the other is lying," the network reports.

Todd Bosnich, DeMaio's former campaign policy director, says the candidate made unwanted sexual advances to him, touching him inappropriately on several occasions. Bosnich is also gay, and he says DeMaio's campaign manager, Tommy Knepper, had told him "that if I really felt that uncomfortable I shouldn't have let [DeMaio] know that I'm a gay man."

Then one morning last April, when Bosnich arrived early at campaign headquarters, DeMaio called him into his office. "I came over to his office, door was open. And he was masturbating," Bosnich told CNN. "I saw his hand, his penis in his hand and he had a smile on his face. And as soon as I came over he was looking at me."

"A few weeks after the masturbation incident," CNN reports, Bosnich "confronted DeMaio, telling him to either stop the harassment or drop out of the race." Bosnich says he was fired the next day.

In a press conference earlier this week, DeMaio called the charges "an outrageous lie," saying they have been investigated by San Diego police and deemed to be unfounded. He also told CNN Bosnich was let go for "a well-documented plagiarism incident of taking a report from the National Journal and passing it off as his own work." He also said Bosnich is a suspect in a break-in that occurred at the campaign office just days after the firing. Computers were smashed and phone lines were cut.

San Diego police have investigated the break-in and forwarded their findings to the district attorney's office. Bosnich confirmed he was interviewed by police but denies any involvement in the crime. So far no charges have been filed.

House Speaker John Boehner is in San Diego this weekend helping to raise funds for DeMaio's campaign. DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member, is challenging Democratic incumbent Scott Peters for the congressional seat.

Watch the CNN report below.