Former 2016 GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is speaking out against the politicalization of sexual misconduct allegations currently spreading through Washington.
Fiorina suggested President Donald Trump’s implicit support for Judge Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race amid a series of child molestation allegations was the unfortunate result of “politics.”
“This is all about politics and that’s why when politicians talk about this it doesn’t have a lot of credibility,” Fiorina told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
“It’s a little bit like George Washington warned us 200 years ago: The problem with politics and political parties is they care about winning above all else,” she continued. “Donald Trump cares about a vote in the Senate ― no more, no less.”
Despite several high-ranking Republican lawmakers calling on Moore to drop out of the race, Trump has stood by the embattled candidate. Trump remained mum in the days since news first broke of the allegations against Moore. But on Monday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway hinted at Trump’s support of Moore, claiming that the Alabama judge could help pass the GOP tax bill if elected.
“I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,” Conway said during an appearance Monday on “Fox & Friends.”
By Tuesday, Trump broke his silence on the matter. He told reporters that Moore had denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him, and he criticized Doug Jones, Moore’s Democratic opponent.
“We don’t need a liberal person in there,” Trump said, referring to Jones.
Trump addressed the race again on Sunday, but continued to remain tight-lipped about the sexual misconduct allegations against Moore. Instead, he tweeted that Jones would be “BAD” and “a disaster” if elected.
Fiorina, who penned an essay for Medium last week calling on men to take a stand against “unspeakable behavior” toward women, noted that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have politicized the recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) were recently accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. Democratic lawmakers, many of whom have been outspoken in their condemnation of Hollywood personalities recently accused of sexual misconduct, haven’t taken as hard of a stance against their colleagues.
On Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to say whether she believed the women accusing Conyers of sexual harassment.
“Republicans and Democrats alike are guilty of it,” Fiorina said Sunday, adding that Congress should reevaluate its internal process for reviewing sexual harassment allegations.
“That whole process is designed to protect politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, to protect the institution and to make it next to impossible for a woman, or in some cases a young boy page, to come forward,” she said.
Fiorina acknowledged Sunday that she had “of course” been a victim of sexual harassment throughout her career.
“Every woman I know was,” Fiorina told Wallace. “I don’t mean I’ve been raped or assaulted in some of the ways these women have. But what was I groped by a friend of my family? Of course. Was I propositioned? Of course. Was I introduced as a bimbo? Of course. Did I have on occasion men banging on my hotel room door and then lying about it the next morning? Of course.”
“All women are not victims,” she continued. “But the perennial abuse of power by men over women has been with us for a long time. And everyone knows it. Women know it, and men know it.”