A SUGGESTIVE tweet from Donald Trump has propelled a campaigning US senator to centre stage in the debate about sexual assault and harassment.
Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, was the target of Trump’s tweet claiming she had begged him for campaign contributions and would “do anything” for them.
Gillibrand, who is up for re-election next year and is considered a possible presidential contender in 2020, has been an outspoken voice in the national debate on harassment.
Trump’s tweet came after Gillibrand claimed he should quit as accusations from three women first aired during Trump’s run for the Oval Office resurfaced.
She has argued that rules in institutions from Congress to Hollywood to the US military are set to benefit the powerful and the favoured at the expense of the vulnerable.
The fiery exchange with Trump on Tuesday could brighten the spotlight on Gillibrand’s campaign to upend the dynamics and put power in the hands of the alleged victims while simultaneously pushing the 51-year-old mother of two boys to the forefront of an unformed Democratic presidential field.
She has hit out at leading figures in her own party along the way.
Gillibrand was appointed to Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, but she recently said Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency for his improprieties.
Clinton loyalists criticised her as an ungrateful opportunist.
The spat between Trump and Gillibrand came as a wave of sexual misconduct allegations have hit Capitol Hill, forcing several politicians out of office in just the last week alone. I do think this is a reckoning. This is a watershed moment,” Gillibrand said of the resignations.
“Politicians should be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards.”
She rejected the notion that she and other Democrats are making a calculation they hope will pay off politically as Trump continues to fend off allegations of sexual misconduct lodged by more than a dozen women.
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