The moral reckoning going on in Hollywood that hopefully has no end in sight (not soon, anyway) has taken down former and current titans of the film industry, and now the world waits for the other coast to get its due. Unfortunately, Washington D.C. isn’t ready to clean house yet, certainly not when it could welcome a (alleged) pedophile like Roy Moore and help keep the pro-choice movement at bay. That’s mostly the GOP that’s dragging its feet, though; Senator Al Franken resigned after being urged to do so by several of his fellow Democrats—and of course, in the wake of multiple women saying he groped them, as well as Republicans clamoring for his ouster.
The GOP hasn’t been nearly as eager to look into claims that Donald Trump sexually harassed women, but three of the accusers are now demanding that Congress investigate. According to The Hill, Rachel Crooks, Samantha Holvey, Jessica Leeds, who have all claimed they were sexually harassed by the president, held a press conference on Monday morning to insist that he be held accountable. The publication says the women want 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.”
Crooks, who said the president tried to forcibly kiss her in Trump Tower in 2005, told reporters that if Congress people “were willing to investigate Sen. [Al] Franken [D-Minn.], it’s only fair that they do the same for Trump.” And Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant who previously shared a story of how Trump walked into the dressing room, said “Other folks have resigned. I think he should. I don’t think he ever will.” At the press conference, Leeds, who has alleged Trump groped and tried to kiss her while on a plane in the ’70s, expressed her frustration: “So we’re at the position now where in some areas of our society, people are being held accountable for unwanted behavior. But we are not holding our president accountable for what he is and who he is.”
The White House has already responded to the women’s demands by trying to write off their disclosures as being politically motivated. The statement reads, “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.” But Holvey clearly stated “it’s not a partisan issue, it’s how women are treated every day,” and insisted upon a non-partisan investigation into the allegations.