Less than a month ago, Congresswoman Maxine Waters told a women’s convention in Detroit that her Democratic colleague, Rep. John Conyers, as a man with “impeccable integrity.”
Women from across the country gathered for the Women’s Convention Sojourner Truth Luncheon on Oct. 28, when Waters took shots at President Trump while praising the 88-year-old representative from Detroit.
“You know, there is a member of Congress who has been supportive of women for many, many, many years,” Waters said. “He is quiet, he is confident, he is powerful, but he has impeccable integrity on all of our issues. Give John Conyers a big round of applause.”
She alleged the convention is important in light of several recent allegations against powerful men sexually assaulting or harassing women they oversee.
“I just want to take time to focus on something I think we need to focus on right now,” Waters said. “It is very fortuitous that we have gathered here this afternoon in Detroit as we continue to recognize a record number of women who are boldly coming forward to reveal disturbing and grotesque acts of sexual harassment, assault and rape, often times at the hands of men who believed they were too rich and too powerful to ever be confronted or held accountable.”
This week, Conyers joined the list of “men who believed they were too rich and too powerful to ever be confronted or held accountable.”
BuzzFeed published a report Monday that details numerous allegations that the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee requested sex acts from female staffers, flew women into D.C. for affairs using taxpayer funds, and often touched female staff inappropriately in public.
One of Conyers’ accusers settled a wrongful termination complaint with the Office of Compliance in 2015 for more than $27,000 after she was allegedly fired for rejecting the congressman’s advances, according to the news site.
Conyers initially told the Associated Press on Tuesday that “he knows nothing about any claims of inappropriate touching and learned of the story just hours earlier.”
After at least one person involved in the case revealed that Conyers, the longest serving member of Congress, is a liar, he issued a statement acknowledging the settlement, though he insisted the claims are not true.
“My office resolved the allegations – with an express denial of liability – in order to save all involved from the rigors of protracted litigation,” Conyers said in a prepared statement later Tuesday. “That should not be lost in the narrative.”
Conyers said that he “will fully cooperate with an investigation” into his alleged misdeeds, while others are called for his resignation.
Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga was the first to suggest Conyers should resign during an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday. Several other lawmakers from both parties also weighed in, with several in the Michigan delegation describing the allegations as “deeply disturbing,” according to BuzzFeed.
The BuzzFeed report about Conyers’ alleged sexcapades follows a report in The Washington Post last week that Congress’ Office of Compliance has paid out a total of $17 million over the last 20 years for 264 different settlements, including sexual harassment complaints, through a secretive process that requires accusers to sign confidentiality agreements.
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