Conyers will decide in coming days whether to resign, attorney says

An attorney for Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said Friday that the embattled congressman would make a decision in the coming days about whether to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment.

“We will discuss in the next day or so what Mr. Conyers plans to do,” Arnold Reed, a lawyer for Conyers, said at a news conference in Michigan, where the longest-serving current House member was hospitalized for stress this week.

“As you know, his health is not the best, is not what it should be. He has undergone a second round of examinations. I will meet and confer with doctors and it will be Congressman John Conyers who will be the one to decide what it is he’s going to do,” Reed added.

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In recent days, Conyers has faced mounting calls from his fellow lawyers to resign.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus should step down in the face of allegations that he sexually harassed three former employees.

BuzzFeed News reported earlier this month that Conyers had paid out a settlement of about $27,500 dollars to one former employee, Marion Brown, who alleged that she was wrongfully dismissed from her job because she rebuffed his sexual advances.

Appearing on NBC’s “Today” on Thursday, Brown detailed her encounters with Conyers during the 11 years she worked for him.

“It was sexual harassment, violating my body, propositioning me, inviting me to hotels with the guise of discussing business and propositioning for sex,” she said.

In the wake of Brown’s television appearance, the number of lawmakers calling on Conyers to step down grew to include Pelosi and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Conyers conduct is also being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. The congressman announced on Sunday that he would step down from his post as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, but denied the allegations and said that he would work to clear his name and reclaim his leadership role on the panel.