NY attorney general resigns after abuse accusations
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who held himself out as a champion of women and a liberal foil to US President Donald Trump, resigned from office after four women accused him of physical violence during intimate encounters.
It was a swift and stunning fall for a Democrat who had pledged to use the power of his office to hold others accountable for abusing their power. In accounts published in The New Yorker last Monday, the women described being violently slapped and choked, verbally abused and threatened by Schneiderman. Some also described him as a heavy drinker.
The abuse often happened during what were supposed to be romantic encounters, but the women said the violence was not consensual.
Schneiderman, 63, issued a statement to The New Yorker, and later to other media outlets, implying that his conduct was either welcomed by the women, or was not as they described.
“In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross,” he said.
But after fellow Democrats in New York, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, called for his resignation, he capitulated quickly.