EXCLUSIVE: Pelosi: Conyers “Has Done a Great Deal to Protect Women”
EXCLUSIVE: Ohio Sen. Portman Supports Retroactively Making Capitol Hill’s Sexual Harassment Settlements Public, Says “It’s Outrageous That Taxpayers Are Asked to Pay”
EXCLUSIVE: Anita Hill: “Even Today, Washington Cannot Lead the Country on This Issue”
NOV. 26, 2017 – On “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) exclusively defended Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) following accusations of sexual harassment, saying the 27-term congressman is “an icon in our country” who “has done a great deal to protect women.”
When asked if she believes Conyers’ accusers, Pelosi told moderator Chuck Todd: “I don’t know who they are. Do you? They have not really come forward. That’s for the Ethics Committee to review.”
Watch the full interview, including Pelosi on the re-litigation of President Clinton’s actions: “Why don’t we talk, instead, about how we go forward? Nobody is proud of President Clinton’s behavior at the time.”
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told Todd that he would support retroactively making all of Capitol Hill’s sexual harassment settlements public: “It’s outrageous that taxpayers are asked to pay these settlements in the first place, and yeah, we should make transparent what has happened.”
On the Senate’s ethics investigation into accusations against Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Portman said: “We ought to get to all the facts just as in the case of John Conyers, as we talked about earlier, I hope we see action on that even this week.” Watch the full interview, including the senator’s position on President Trump putting OMB Director Mulvaney as the acting chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Board.
Anita Hill, who alleged in 1991 when Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court that he had sexually harassed her years earlier when she worked for him in various government positions, exclusively joined the broadcast this morning. Hill – now a professor at Brandeis University – shared that “26 years ago, Washington wasn’t ready to lead on this issue, and I’m afraid even today Washington cannot lead the country on this issue.” She added: “I can’t say that I was entirely surprised with the “Me Too” allegations and the stories that came out of “Me Too,” but I am just shocked that if we cannot look at those now and see that we have a widespread problem in this country.” Watch the full interview.
The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson, MSNBC’s Hugh Hewitt, Demos’ Heather McGhee and NBC News’ Katy Tur joined the “Meet the Press” roundtable this morning for insight and analysis, including a discussion on sexual harassment, in which Tur notes: “We have a very different set of standards – very clearly – for everybody else and for politicians.”
Read the full transcript of this morning’s “Meet the Press” on MeetThePress.com.
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