New York AG’s fall: From women’s defender to alleged abuser
"We have never seen anything as despicable as what we've seen here," Schneiderman declared.
Now, in a stunning turn rife with seeming hypocrisy, Schneiderman's own career has imploded, collapsing just three hours after the 63-year-old Democrat was accused of choking, slapping, threatening or otherwise abusing four women during intimate encounters.
The allegations, which Schneiderman contests but which led him to resign, emerged Monday in an article in The
It was a dizzying fall for a politician who put himself at the fore of the #MeToo movement and had cast himself as a defender of women ever since he worked at an abortion clinic at 17.
He is now facing a criminal investigation by a special prosecutor appointed by the governor.
Schneiderman's disgrace stunned women's groups, which suddenly found themselves deploring a man they had embraced as a proven and powerful ally.
"This was someone who many of us held up as a supporter and champion of the fight against gender violence," said
"A tremendous betrayal. There's no other way to put it," Kluger said.
The accusations rocked the state and added another chapter to its history of political sex shockers, including the prostitution scandal that felled Democratic Gov.
"It's a moment of reckoning — and now that reckoning has come to him," said
Powerful fellow
The developments brought a tart tweet from President
"You were saying???"
Late-night comedian
Schneiderman denied assaulting anyone or engaging in non-consensual sex — "a line I would not cross," said the divorced father of a daughter. Contradicting his accusers, he characterized his behavior as "role-playing and other consensual sexual activity."
In an interview with
"This was activity that happened, in many cases, fully clothed, outside of a sexual context, during arguments," Farrow said. "In one case, a woman wasn't even in a relationship at all with him."
On Monday night, Schneiderman said he would resign at the close of business Tuesday because the claims will "effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time."
Among that work: investigating, at the governor's request, how the
Tuesday evening, Cuomo appointed
Cuomo also directed Singas to investigate whether Schneiderman may have used his staff and office resources to "facilitate alleged abusive liaisons referenced in the article."
Cuomo said the special prosecutor will work with the other district attorneys, including the district attorney in
Cuomo said he appointed the special prosecutor in part to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest with the attorney general's office, which is currently investigating the actions of the
Singas is the former head of the
Some of the alleged behavior took place in 2016 and earlier, according to The
The statute of limitations in
Before the scandal, Schneiderman had been running for a third four-year term in the fall.
As a state senator before getting elected attorney general, Schneiderman chaired an inquiry that led to a colleague's expulsion over a domestic-violence conviction.
"The
During his tenure as attorney general, his office has touted pamphlets about anti-discrimination protections for domestic-violence victims, whom he has called "some of the most vulnerable residents of our state."
And in marking the 20th anniversary of the federal Violence Against Women Act in 2014, he noted that "violence against women remains a prevalent and dangerous problem across our nation.
"Protecting all Americans from harm, regardless of their relationship to their abuser or their gender," he added, "is and will remain one of the most important aspects of our ongoing pursuit of equal justice under law."
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