December 11, 2017

Sen. Gillibrand Calls for Trump to Resign Over Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

In the absence of a resignation, she said Congress should investigate the allegations.

Tom Williams/ZUMA

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

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Monday called on President Donald Trump to immediately resign over the allegations of sexual misconduct that first emerged during the election against him, describing the claims as both “credible” and “heartbreaking.” 

“These allegations are credible, they are numerous,” Gillibrand told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “I’ve heard these women’s testimony and many of them are heartbreaking and President Donald Trump should resign his position.” 

While acknowledging that there was scant possibility that Trump would bow to such demands—he has denied all of the allegations and previously threatened to sue his accusers–the New York senator said that Congress should then open an investigation.

“Whether he will ever hold himself accountable is something you really can’t hold your breath for, so Congress should have hearings,” Gillibrand continued. “They should do their investigation, they should have appropriate investigations of his behavior and hold him accountable.”

Her remarks came just hours after three women who had previously accused the president of inappropriate sexual behavior demanded a congressional probe into the matter. The women said that they were renewing their stories in light of the national conversation surrounding sexual harassment in recent months in hopes that lawmakers and the public would take their allegations more seriously this time around.

Last week, Gillibrand was the first senator to demand Sen. Al Franken resign over his own sexual misconduct allegations. Speaking from the Senate floor Thursday, Franken announced that he would step down in the coming weeks, but pointed out the “irony” in the fact that “a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault” is still in the White House.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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