Trump accusers seek investigation
Three women want Congress to look into allegations surrounding the president
WASHINGTON – Three women who have accused President Trump of sexually harassing or assaulting them before he came to the White House demanded a congressional investigation Monday after a week in which lawmakers from both parties were forced into resignation amid harassment allegations.
“People are being held accountable, except for our president,” said Jessica Leeds, who said Trump tried to force himself on her, including reaching under her skirt, during a plane ride more than 30 years ago. Yet “his staff made a big point of calling us all liars,” she said. More than a dozen women came forward during Trump’s presidential campaign last year to accuse him of sexual misconduct in the past.
Leeds, Samantha Holvey and Rachel Crooks said the national discussion over sexual harassment has felled powerful men across major industries including entertainment and on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Trump “has escaped his past unscathed” and “our stories seem to fall on deaf ears,” Crooks said.
Crooks said Trump held her hand and kissed her on the mouth when she was working as a receptionist at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
The women also appeared in an earlier interview with Megyn Kelly, prompting the White House to issue a statement saying that Trump has denied all of the accusations and that the women were making “false claims.”
The “timing and absurdity of these false claims speaks volumes,” the White House said in a statement that bore no one’s name and said Americans “voiced their judgment” by electing Trump.
The news conference came the Monday after Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., gave a pointed speech on the Senate floor announcing his resignation and taking a parting shot at Trump.
As with Trump, most of the accusations against Franken predate his service in Washington. There “is some iro- ny in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office,” Franken said while denying some of the allegations from women who said he groped or harassed them. The appearances also came a day after Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said anyone who claims she was a victim of sexual misconduct should be heard, even if Trump is the alleged perpetrator.
After Franken’s announcement, Democrats began to draw a contrast with the GOP and Trump. Republicans also may soon be welcoming to their conference Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is accused by nine women of inappropriate touching or misconduct. There is a special election Tuesday. Moore has denied the allegations.
Over the weekend, at least three Democrats urged Trump to follow Franken’s lead and resign. Part of the case against Franken includes a photo, in which he has his hand extended in a manner suggesting he was groping the breasts of Leanne Tweeden, a newscaster who was asleep during an overseas plane ride.
For Trump, a 2005 tape from the show Access Hollywood, in which he is heard bragging about grabbing women’s private parts, is the evidence many cite.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., suggested Sunday that Trump should resign. “Here you have a president who has been accused by many women of assault, who says on a tape that he assaulted women,” Sanders said on Meet
the Press. On Vice News, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said, “The fact pattern on him is far more damning than the fact pattern on Al Franken.”
“People are being held accountable, except for our president.” Jessica Leeds