Yesterday, LU contributor Joe Newby wrote that James Clyburn, a top Democrat in the House, was circling the wagons around embattled Rep. John Conyers. By nightfall, Clyburn was calling upon Conyers to step down.
Now another Democrat is weighing in and calling Conyers a “predator,” this just days after minority leader Nancy Pelosi called the congressman an icon.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) told CNN that the allegations against Conyers should result in Conyers’s resignation and indicated that she believes his accusers. Speier said there is a pattern of sexual misconduct by Conyers throughout the years and believes his behavior was similar to that of “a predator”:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Well, I have been saying since the beginning of the week that I believe the victims. I think when the staffer who had a settlement broke her nondisclosure agreement and went on TV to explain what happened to her, I was convinced that there was a pattern of conduct by Rep. Conyers that is really, without any fear of contradiction, is that of a predator.
Rep. Jackie Speier on calling for Rep. John Conyers’ resignation: “We cannot stand by as members of Congress and say we have zero tolerance and then let someone continue to conduct himself in the manner he has” https://t.co/Bt5g6aLip4
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 1, 2017
Conyers stepped down as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee after it was revealed he had settled a wrongful dismissal suit with one former staffer after she accused him of firing her for resisting his sexual advances. Another woman accused Conyers of sexual misconduct just days later.
Since the allegations, both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Paul Ryan have called for Conyers to resign.
Conyers was hospitalized Thursday for a stress-related illness as top Democrats continue to call for his resignation due to the growing sexual misconduct scandal.
This report, by Henry Rodgers, was cross posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
