Long before Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Al Franken bowed to pressure from their fellow Democrats and opted to leave their positions, a handful of conservatives were warning that the ostensibly altruistic motives of Nancy Pelosi and her fellow party leaders were, in fact, a ploy to try and force Republicans in Congress to turn on President Donald Trump.
After all, only weeks ago Pelosi took to the Sunday shows to defend Conyers, claiming he was an “icon” in the fight for women’s rights and minority rights. Of course, that was probably before the Democrats realized the political opportunity on their hands.
Don't fall for this progressive plot. They will give-up Conyers/Franken in order to set a precedent of expecting resignations over allegations...then they will go after Trump with new allegations. People are innocent until proven guilty, or admission of guilt. https://t.co/1jdolgyDmI
— Limerick King (@TheLimerickKing) November 25, 2017
While some of these warnings were swiftly dismissed as conspiracy theorists, it looks like they, too, might ultimately be proven to be a conspiracy “fact.” To wit, as the Hill reports, three women who have accused President Trump of sexual harassment are calling on Congress to launch an investigation into the allegations against him.
As one of the women put it: "If they were willing to investigate Sen. [Al] Franken [D-Minn.], it’s only fair that they do the same for Trump,” said Rachel Crooks, one of the president’s accusers."
None of the women who appeared on Megyn Kelly’s show this morning raised new allegations against Trump. Instead, they’re reiterating allegations that were emphasized during the campaign – a clear sign that Democrats see this as their “moment” to go after Trump, and are grabbing the brass ring with both hands.
The women held a press conference Monday to demand that the president be held accountable for his actions...Crooks has accused the president of forcibly kissing her 12 years ago at Trump Tower, where she was a young receptionist.
Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant who says Trump walked into the dressing room to inspect the women, said the president should step down over the allegations.
“Other folks have resigned. I think he should. I don’t think he ever will,” she said at the news conference arranged by Brave New Films, a progressive nonprofit group.
The three women appeared earlier Monday morning on NBC News’s “Megyn Kelly Today.”
The women are trying to return the spotlight to Trump’s alleged misconduct at a time when other politicians, media figures, entertainment executives and businessmen have been forced to leave their jobs over accusations of sexual harassment or assault.
The group, which also included Jessica Leeds, who said Trump groped and kissed her on an airplane, did not make any new allegations against the president.
During the interview, the women expressed hope that the shifting cultural mores might increase the likelihood that Republicans in Congress will kowtow to their Democratic rivals in the hopes of retaining the moral high ground. The possibility that Republican senate candidate Roy Moore might win tomorrow’s special election in Alabama has only served to further emboldened them – especially after Richard Shelby, Alabama’s senior senator, said this weekend that he wouldn’t vote for Moore, and that an ethics investigated might be ordered should he win. Polls show Moore neck-and-neck with Democratic rival Doug Jones. Trump, of course, has backed Moore, saying he believes Moore’s “total denial” of claims that he engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with high school girls when he was an assistance district attorney forty years ago.
I look forward to speaking with @jaketapper this morning on #CNNSOTU to discuss the Alabama Special Election this upcoming Tuesday, along with other important issues affecting our nation. https://t.co/6pugxLgqEv
— Richard Shelby (@SenShelby) December 10, 2017
Jessica Leeds, who once accused Trump of forcibly kissing her on an airplane, reiterated that the national reckoning with sexual harassment in the workplace just might be able to take down Trump.
“So we're at the position now where in some areas of our society, people are being held accountable for unwanted behavior,” Jessica Leeds said. “But we are not holding our president accountable for what he is and who he is.”
As the Hill pointed out, at least 16 women during the 2016 campaign accused Trump of sexually harassing them. Trump has denied all of the allegations and the White House has said its official position is that all the women were lying.
“These false claims, totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts, were addressed at length during last year’s campaign, and the American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory,” a White House spokesperson said Monday.
The White House said the women were motivated by politics in trying to revive their accusations against Trump.
“The timing and absurdity of these false claims speaks volumes and the publicity tour that has begun only further confirms the political motives behind them," said the spokesperson, who declined to be named.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cut ties with Moore, and some GOP senators say he should be expelled if he wins, but Trump is backing him, saying that he doesn’t want the seat to be held by a Democrat.
“It’s really horrifying and it’s confusing because you would think that the good people of Alabama could see through this, but we’ve gotten so polarized with the politics they want to keep a Republican seat even though it’s a pedophile,” Leeds said.
But as Democrats and some Republicans set their sights on Trump once again by bringing up Trump’s accusers and, of course, the infamous Access Hollywood tape that many believed should’ve sunk the Trump campaign, it’s worth remembering that many Democrats initially defended not only Conyers and Franken, but also former President Bill Clinton, who has faced accusations of sexual assault and harassment for years.
In other words, Democrats were willing to ignore these issues when it was politically convenient. But now that they see an opening, they’re more than willing to throw a few of their own under the bus if it might allow them to take down Trump.