Kamala Harris Calls on Trump to Resign Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

But she acknowledged that he likely wouldn’t.

Tom Williams/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Cal.) on Thursday added her name to the growing list of Democratic lawmakers urging President Donald Trump to step down over the sexual misconduct claims that continue to dog his presidency, saying the decision would be in the “best interest of the country.” 

But the California senator also acknowledged that the likelihood of Trump doing this was slim at best. He has repeatedly denied all the allegations, and most recently claimed to have never met any of his accusers, despite being photographed with many of the women.

“First of all, we know he’s not going to resign,” Harris told Politico. “So let’s just be clear about that. But if he were going to make a decision that was in the best interest of the country, I think he should.” 

At least 17 women came forward during the presidential election to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct. Three of them renewed their stories on Monday during two media appearances in hopes that Congress would investigate their claims amid the national conversation about sexual harassment. 

In response, Trump lashed out at Democrats pressuring him to resign. The president specifically attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who had appeared on CNN to call on him to step down over the accusations, and claimed, in a particularly crude tweet, that he knew Gillibrand would “do anything” in exchange for campaign contributions.

GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

payment methods

GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate