President Trump said Tuesday that he believed lawmakers who paid settlements to sexual harassment accusers should be outed.
‘I do – I really do,’ Trump told reporters on the South Lawn as he was leaving the White House to spend Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago.
Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, said last Tuesday that about $15 million had been paid out to victims of harassers from the House of Representatives over the last ten to fifteen years.
President Trump stopped to talk to reporters outside the White House Tuesday and said he’d like to see members of Congress who paid settlements for sexual harassment exposed
President Trump wasn’t yet prepared to talk about allegations against Democratic Michigan Rep. John Conyers, who was accused of harassing staff
The president was comfortable with suggesting he supported Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, telling reporters that the Republican hopeful had issued denials
President Trump (right), captured leaving the White House Tuesday with Melania Trump (left) and Barron (center), said it was ‘good for our society’ that so many male abusers have been exposed
Speier didn’t disclose the names of the members, nor did she name the two men – besides saying one is a Democrat and one is a Republican – who she testified were currently serving in Congress and accused of sexual harassment.
On Tuesday, however, the House Ethics Committee announced it had opened an investigation into the behavior of Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat.
BuzzFeed reported Monday night that multiple staffers had accused Conyers of sexual harassment, producing four signed affidavits, three of which were notarized, which accused the congressman of making sexual advances on female staffers, including requests of them to perform sex acts.
Trump, who’s been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault, wasn’t ready to comment on Conyers Tuesday.
‘I just heard about Conyers two minutes ago,’ the president said.
Sen. Al Franken, the Democratic comedian-turned-lawmaker under fire for inappropriate kissing and groping, Trump said, also needed to speak for himself.
‘I don’t want to speak for Al Franken. I don’t know what happened,’ the president said, five days after mocking Franken in his tweets.
While Trump said he’d like members of Congress to be outed, he suggested an alleged harasser’s denial was enough to keep the president’s support.
Trump was asked by DailyMail.com about Roy Moore, the embattled Alabama Senate candidate accused by nine women of sexual assault and harassment when most of them were minors.
‘Let me just tell you Roy Moore denies it, that’s all I can say, he denies it and, by the way, he totally denies it,’ the president said, as he exited the White House Tuesday.
When a reporter followed up and asked him about the women, Trump oddly noted how the Moore’s victims were ‘Trump voters.’
‘Most of the women are Trump voters,’ the president said.
He also talked about the mass outing of male harassers, started by the dozens of accusations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and followed by men in media and business and politics being exposed.
‘Women are very special, I think it’s a very special time, because a lot of things are coming out and I think that’s good for our society,’ Trump said.
‘And I think it’s very, very good for women and I’m very happy a lot of these things are coming out and I’m very happy it’s being exposed,’ the president added.