From Charlie Rose to Donald Trump: 6 thorny questions for Washington on sexual harassment
Rep. Jackie Speier (D Calif.) says Congress must reform the way it deals with sexual harassment.
In journalism, the men accused (and so far, they are all men) are all extremely powerful in their respective newsrooms.
3. What makes an accuser's story more credible than the next? The White House has called all dozen or so of President Trump's accusers liars, but they say they believe Franken's first accuser because she offered photographic proof.
But photographic proof is the exception to these situations. Here's what one Rose accuser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said when Rose allegedly tried to put his hands down her pants at his secluded home at 2 a.m.: “By the time he touched me the first time, he was already very angry. I was scared, and I was also kind of frozen.” In other words, whipping out her smartphone to snap a picture was the last thing on her mind.
Franken, meanwhile, said less than a month ago that accusers should get the benefit of the doubt.
But he has tried cast doubt on his own two accusers. “I certainly don't remember taking this picture,” he said of his latest accuser, Lindsay Menz, who told CNN that Franken grabbed her buttocks while they posed for a picture at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, two years after Franken got elected.
4. Do we need to question accusers' timing or motives? Because it seems everyone's story is complicated. Leigh Corfman, who accuses Senate candidate Roy Moore of initiating a sexual encounter with her when she was 14, said she didn't make her claim public sooner because she had small children and a messy financial life she didn't want to bring under scrutiny by accusing an up-and-up Alabama politician. Leann Tweeden said she was inspired by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) sharing her story of being kissed by a member of Congress to share hers about Franken. Some of Rose's accusers said it took them years to realize their alleged harasser was in the wrong, not them.
And yet, our culture still seems to place most of the burden of proof on the victim. Corfman was asked on live national television Monday what her motives on speaking out are.
Roy Moore accusers Leigh Corfman, left, in a photo from 1979, when she was about 14. At right, from top, Wendy Miller when she was about 16, Debbie Wesson Gibson around age 17 and Gloria Thacker Deason around age 18. (Family photos)
On the other side, Democrats haven't yet called for Franken's ouster after two women accused him — though they do support an ethics investigation that could censure him or even kick him out. If there's a pattern to any of these reactions, I sure don't see it.
6. Should politics ever trump sex abuse allegations? The Fix's Eugene Scott has actually noticed an uptick in the number of GOP women who have publicly said they are supporting Moore. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) says she has reason to believe Moore's accusers, but she will vote for Moore because “we need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on the things like Supreme Court justices.” Trump's top aide, Kellyanne Conway, urged Alabama voters to support Moore because a tax bill will be easier to pass with another Republican senator than a Democratic one.
None of these questions are easy to answer, and all of them are politically fraught. And yet Washington may have no choice but to try, because it's clear right now the status quo isn't working.
