Donald Trump's Accusers Call Upon Congress to Investigate Sexual Misconduct Allegations [Updated]

On Monday morning, several of the women who have publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct will call upon Congress to launch an investigation into the claims. According to a press release from Brave New Films, they will talk about allegations of Trump “groping, fondling, forcibly kissing, humiliating, and harassing women.”

Trump, an alleged sexual predator and self-avowed pussy-grabber, has objectified teenagers and his own infant daughter and continues to escape any accountability. He has also endorsed alleged child molester Roy Moore for Alabama senate. Over the weekend, Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Jeff Merkley called on Trump to resign over the accusations. “I just watched Sen. Al Franken do the honorable thing and resign from his office. My question is, why isn’t Donald Trump doing the same thing—who has more serious allegations against him, with more women who have come forward,” Booker told Vice News.

“At least 17 women have accused Donald Trump of horrific sexual misconduct, and I believe them. Moreover, he’s bragged on tape about that behavior. This is not about politics. This is not about policy. I disagree with him on many things, but this is not about that,” Merkley told CNN via email.

The group of women, who have also described how Trump allegedly harassed, groped, and touched them in Brave New Films’s “16 Women and Donald Trump,” are coming forward again in light of the renewed attention to sexual assault survivors across the country. They will speak in a press conference at 10:30 am, which will stream here.

Update 12/11, 11:30 am: Three of Trump’s accusers, Samantha Holvey, Jessica Leeds, and Rachel Crooks, appeared at a press conference calling on Congress to launch a non-partisan investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Holvey, who won the 2006 Miss North Carolina title, has alleged that Trump walked in on Miss USA contestants while they were in the dressing room. She was 20 at the time. “As a little girl, I would watch the Miss USA pageant every year, and dream of being one of those beautiful, successful, incredibly confident women. This dream never included a man lining us up, looking us over like we were a piece of meat. These dreams never included a man coming backstage into the hair and makeup area, where I sat naked under a robe, as he walked around looking at us like we were his property before he moved into the dressing room. And this dream certainly never included this same man becoming the president of the United States. I have a new dream now: That this man will be held accountable for his actions, and that future generations of women can fulfill their dreams without worry of anyone treating them like they are less than because they’re a woman,” she said.

Rachel Crooks, a former Trump Tower receptionist who says that Trump forcibly kissed on their first meeting over a decade ago, said, “Unfortunately, this behavior isn’t rare in our society and people from all backgrounds can be victims. The only reason I am here today is because this offender is now the president of our country.” Noting that the allegations from over a dozen women against Trump seemed to “fall on deaf ears,” she pointed to the Me Too movement as a reason for raising the accusations again more than a year later. She asked Americans to “hold Mr. Trump to the same standards as Harvey Weinstein and the other men who were held accountable for their reprehensible behavior.”

“Therefore, I ask that Congress put aside their party affiliations and investigate Mr. Trump’s history of sexual misconduct,” she said.

Jessica Leeds, who claims that Donald Trump groped her while seated next to her on a flight back to New York over 30 years ago, likened the MeToo movement to “an explosion in a shingle factory” in terms of the shift in response to sexual assault allegations. “People were being held accountable. Except for our president—he was not being held accountable. In fact, his staff made a point of calling us liars.”

“I am hoping that this will come forward and produce enough pressure on Congress to address it—more than just for their own members—but to address it in the president,” she said.