In #metoo wake, three senators call on President Donald Trump to resign

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 6 years ago

In #metoo wake, three senators call on President Donald Trump to resign

By David Weigel
Updated

Washington: Independent US Senator Bernie Sanders and two of his Democratic colleagues have suggested that President Donald Trump should consider resigning, after a run of sexual harassment scandals that has driven out some members of Congress.

Senator Al Franken "felt it proper for him to resign," Sanders said in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday morning, referring to the Democrat from Minnesota.

"Here you have a President who has been accused by many women of assault, who says on a tape that he assaulted women. He might want to think about doing the same."

The accusations against Franken include an episode of forcible kissing on a United Services Organisation entertainment tour for US troops before he was elected and several allegations that he groped women as he posed with them for photographs.

Told to resign: US President Donald Trump.

Told to resign: US President Donald Trump.Credit: AP

Republican US Representative Trent Franks said he too would resign after two female staffers complained that he had discussed surrogacy with them.

Sanders' comment, which built on a tweet he'd sent last week, came after Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley, from Oregon, and Cory Booker, New Jersey, suggested that the "#MeToo moment" should prompt another look at the women who accused Trump of sexual harassment during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"The President should resign because he certainly has a track record with more than 17 women of horrific conduct," Merkley said last week in an interview for the weekday version of Meet the Press.

On Saturday, during his campaign swing as part of Alabama's US Senate race, Booker told Vice News that the standard that brought down Franken should be applied to the President.

Advertisement
Senator Al Franken will resign.

Senator Al Franken will resign.Credit: AP

"I just watched Senator Al Franken do the honorable thing and resign from his office," Booker said. "My question is, why isn't Donald Trump doing the same thing - who has more serious allegations against him, with more women who have come forward.

"The fact pattern on him is far more damning than the fact pattern on Al Franken."

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, unveils bipartisan legislation to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace on Capitol Hill in Washington last week.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, unveils bipartisan legislation to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace on Capitol Hill in Washington last week.Credit: Bloomberg

Commenting on the onslaught of sexual harassment accusations in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the resignation of members of Congress, one Democratic legislator said:

"There's roadkill, yeah. People are being forced to resign whose conduct was not as bad as other people's."

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley says women should be taken seriously even if complaining about Trump.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley says women should be taken seriously even if complaining about Trump.Credit: AP

She believes that a lot more legislators will quietly slink away, opening up a lot of seats for women and minorities and a younger generation.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, on CBS's Face the Nation said any woman who has felt violated or mistreated by a man has every right to speak up, even if she is accusing Trump.

"Women who accuse anyone should be heard," Haley said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. "They should be heard, and they should be dealt with."

Democrats made those comments just days after a largely ceremonial effort to impeach Trump, pushed by Democrat Al Green, failed in the House of Representatives.

Although polling has found that a large number of voters favour an effort to remove Trump from office, most Democrats have suggested that investigations into the 2016 Trump campaign's Russia connections continue.

Loading

In a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, 70 per cent of respondents said Congress should "investigate the accusations of sexual harassment against President Trump."

Washington Post

Most Viewed in World

Loading