News

Pelosi, Ryan Call on Conyers To Step Down, As Another Franken Accuser Comes Forward

By: Brian Naylor | NPR
Posted on: Thursday, November 30, 2017

Updated at 11:56 a.m. ET

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is calling on Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to step down, after a former Conyers aide made public her allegations of sexual harassment against the veteran congressman. Pelosi’s comments were echoed by House Speaker Paul Ryan who said Thursday Conyers should “resign immediately.”

Conyers was hospitalized for stress amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, on the same morning that another high-profile Democrat was hit with a new allegation of groping. Conyers’ office confirmed the hospitalization.

“I pray for Congressman Conyers and his family and wish them well,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “However, Congressman Conyers should resign.”

One of Conyers’ accusers, Marion Brown, described to NBC’s Today show her accusations against Conyers. “Violating my body, propositioning me, inviting me to hotels with the guise of discussing business, and then propositioning for sex,” Brown said. “He just violated my body. He has touched me in different ways, and it was very uncomfortable and very unprofessional.”

Conyers has denied any wrongdoing and reached a settlement with Brown that included a nondisclosure agreement. But Brown told the Today show that “I want to be a voice” and that she wants her granddaughter “to not have to endure sexism and gender inequality. I felt it was worth the risk to stand up for all the women in the workforce that are voiceless.”

Pelosi had defended Conyers prior to Brown’s interview, calling him an icon.

Meanwhile, an Army veteran has come forward to accuse now-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., of groping her during a photo opportunity in 2003. Stephanie Kemplin told CNN that the incident occurred while she was stationed in the Middle East during the Iraq war and when Franken was on tour with a USO show before he was elected to the Senate. Kemplin said she stood in line to have her picture taken with the former Saturday Night Live star who traveled several times to perform for troops.

“When he put his arm around me, he groped my right breast. He kept his hand all the way over on my breast,” Kemplin told CNN. “I’ve never had a man put their arm around me and then cup my breast. So he was holding my breast on the side.”

Kemplin, now 41, says she was embarrassed by what happened. She is the fifth woman to accuse Franken of groping or forcible kissing in the last two weeks.

Franken’s office told the network that the senator “takes thousands of photos and has met thousands of people and he has never intentionally engaged in this kind of conduct,” adding Franken is “fully committed to cooperating” with a Senate Ethics Committee investigation.

The allegations against Conyers and Franken come during a snowballing moment of cultural reckoning over sexual harassment and sexual misconduct that has claimed the careers of several high-profile men in entertainment and media.

Today show host Matt Lauer was fired after allegations against him, NBC News announced Wednesday. On Thursday, Lauer issued a public apology broadcast at the beginning of the popular morning show. At NPR, Michael Oreskes, a top news editor, resigned after the Washington Post reported on past sexual harassment allegations against him. And recently another top news editor at NPR left the organization after allegations were made against him in the awake of Oreskes’ departure.