Trump Rips Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Over Her Calls for His Resignation. President calls senator a ‘flunky’ who ‘would do anything’ for campaign donations.
By Rebecca Ballhaus. Updated December 12, 2017.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized a Democratic U.S. senator who has called for his resignation over allegations of sexual misconduct as a “total flunky” while dismissing the accusations as “fabricated.”
In a pair of tweets Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump accused Democrats of promoting the allegations of more than a dozen women that he engaged in sexual misconduct. He targeted New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who in a CNN interview Monday said the allegations against the president were credible and heartbreaking and said Mr. Trump should resign.
“Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter. He added: “Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!”—an apparent reference to former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s Democrat opponent in 2016.
The White House didn’t respond to a question about what the president meant by saying Ms. Gillibrand “would do anything for” campaign contributions. Ms. Gillibrand is one of four Democratic senators who have so far called for Mr. Trump to resign or consider doing so; she is the only woman in that group.
Ms. Gillibrand replied on Twitter: “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.” In a news conference later Tuesday, she called the tweet a “sexist smear attempting to silence my voice.”
Other Democratic senators rose to Ms. Gillibrand’s defense, seizing in particular upon Mr. Trump’s insinuation in saying the senator would “do anything” for campaign cash.
“Are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand? Do you know who you’re picking a fight with?” tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.). “Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump.”
Federal Election Commission records show Ms. Gillibrand’s campaign received $5,850 from Mr. Trump between 2007 and 2010, and $2,000 from Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, in 2014. Ms. Gillibrand was a member of the House from upstate New York, first elected in 2006, before she was appointed to fill Mrs. Clinton’s Senate seat in 2009.
A half-hour after Mr. Trump’s Tuesday tweet, Ms. Gillibrand sent supporters a fundraising email. “Kirsten’s always believed that if she’s not standing up for what she believes in and fighting for her principles, she shouldn’t be in public service,” the email read.
Mr. Trump also targeted on Twitter the women who have accused him, saying they are women who “I don’t know and/or have never met.”
During the 2016 campaign, more than a dozen women publicly alleged sexual misconduct by Mr. Trump. He denied their allegations. On Monday, three of those women held a news conference and sat for an interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly, calling for Congress to open an investigation into the allegations against the president.
Mr. Trump didn’t specifically identify the women whom he said he had never met. On Monday, Rachel Crooks said she was forcibly kissed by Mr. Trump while she was working at Trump Tower as a receptionist in 2005; Jessica Leeds said Mr. Trump groped her on an airplane in the 1970s; and Samantha Holvey said Mr. Trump entered a women’s dressing room at a beauty pageant that he owned while she and other contestants were changing. All three had made their allegations against Mr. Trump public last year, before he was elected.
Mr. Trump has bragged about such behavior, telling radio host Howard Stern in 2005 that owning a beauty pageant allowed him to go backstage where “you see these incredible-looking women. So I sort of get away with things like that.”
In addition, a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video released during last year’s presidential campaign showed Mr. Trump talking about how he had groped women and speaking in crude sexual terms. Mr. Trump last year said he regretted having made those comments, dismissing them as “locker-room talk.”
Washington, as well as the media, entertainment and financial industries, has been rocked in recent weeks by allegations of sexual misconduct, which last week led to resignation announcements from three lawmakers, including Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.). On Tuesday, women Democratic House lawmakers are set to meet at the Capitol to call for an investigation into the accusations against Mr. Trump. The Democratic Women’s Working Group this week sent a letter signed by 59 lawmakers to the House Oversight Committee, which has the power to investigate the executive branch.
“We cannot ignore the multitude of women who have come forward with accusations against Mr. Trump,” the letter says. “With that said, the president should be allowed to present evidence in his own defense.” The women requested a response within 10 days from the Oversight Committee, which didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Also Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump tweeted that Alabama voters should “do the right thing” and vote for Roy Moore, the Republican candidate in the Senate special election whom multiple women have accused of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers and Mr. Moore was in his 30s. The election is on Tuesday.
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