Gillibrand: If George Soros is mad I stood up for women ‘that’s on him’
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is punching back at billionaire Democratic megadonor George Soros after he criticized her for calling for the resignation of former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) over sexual misconduct allegations.
In a statement to HuffPost, Gillibrand said that if Soros is upset that she pushed Franken’s resignation, “that’s on him.”
The New York senator’s comments on Soros came as part of her responses to a HuffPost story examining Gillibrand’s attention to sexual assault issues, including her past call for Franken to resign. She has also said President Clinton should have resigned over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
“If standing up for women who have been wronged makes George Soros mad, that’s on him,” she said.
“I won’t hesitate to always do what I think is right,” she added. “For nearly a year, we have seen countless acts of courage as women and men have spoken hard truths about sexual assault and sexual harassment and demanded accountability.”
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“I stand with them in this new watershed moment of important change in our society on what we deem as acceptable,” she continued. “It is clear that we must put our morals and the valuing of women ahead of party loyalty. When someone does something wrong, you have to speak up and be counted, whether it’s President Trump, or a Democratic colleague.”
Gillibrand was among the most vocal Democrats to call for Franken to step down from his Senate seat last year after multiple accusations of groping and improper sexual conduct emerged against him.
In an interview with The Washington Post published in June, Soros, one of the most prolific donors in Democratic politics, accused Gillibrand of pushing Franken’s resignation to “improve her chances” in a potential 2020 presidential bid.
Soros said that there were many Democrats he would like to see run for the White House. Gililibrand was not one of them.
“I may add that there’s only one whom I would not like to see succeed, and that’s [Senator Kirsten] Gillibrand of New York,” he told the Post.
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