Editor’s note: This story contains depictions of sexual assault.

Eugene Gu, the doctor famous for successfully suing President Donald Trump for blocking him on Twitter, has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who says she’s his ex.

The woman, a medical student who goes by the username @DoctorMeowskis detailed her months-long relationship with Gu in a Twitter thread on Wednesday. She said that in addition to sexually assaulting her, Gu spent months impersonating a woman and talking to her through a now-deleted fake account.

I'm freaking out now knowing my ex boyfriend was tormenting me with a fake female account. Sending me DMs obsessing over him, asking intimate details about my sex life, and then trying to convince me they slept together.



I'm going to be sick. — Student Dr. Meow (@DoctorMeowskis) July 10, 2018

According to @DoctorMeowskis’ posts, she and Gu developed a relationship after Gu found her through #GirlMedTwitter, a hashtag @DoctorMeowski created to empower women in the medical field. Gu began texting her frequently and said they would be Twitter’s “power couple.” @DoctorMeowskis said that because of her recent breakup with an emotionally distant ex-boyfriend, she felt comforted by Gu’s affection and attention.

She described his obsession with Twitter and the beginning of his controlling behavior.

DoctorMeowskis/Twitter

At the same time, @DoctorMeowskis began receiving messages from a woman named Mary Laury who claimed to be a surgeon. Things with Laury soon became “really weird.” Laury was obsessed with Gu and had “printed [Gu’s] photo and put it on her wall to admire.” Laury also asked for intimate details about @DoctorMeowski and Gu’s relationship. Laury made @DoctorMeowskis feel “uneasy.” Laury also claimed to know Gu in real life.

All this time she was prying if I was dating this surgeon, I told her no because I don't want my dating life all over Twitter until I'm ready to post about it. She then said he was going to be her next conquest. Though I always had an eerie sense she knew we were dating — Student Dr. Meow (@DoctorMeowskis) July 10, 2018

@DoctorMeowskis said she continued communicating with Gu, who frequently complained about his job at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She said she advised him to stop posting about his job. (Gu was released from the center earlier this year due to issues concerning his “work performance and professionalism,” though he claimed he was fired for speaking out against white supremacy.)

After a couple of months of talking, Gu invited the @DoctorMeowskis to visit him and said she could shadow him at work, according to her posts.

DoctorMeowskis/Twitter

@DoctorMeowskis said she spent the next few days in his apartment and finally had the chance to go out on a date with him on Valentine’s Day.

The two returned to his apartment, where she said he forced himself on her.

DoctorMeowskis/Twitter

@DoctorMeowski said the next morning Gu made no mention of the previous night and instead gushed about how excited he was for her to meet his mom. She said she returned home and began receiving “intense” messages from Laury about her sex life with Gu.

Gu made comments to her about being her future husband and later made plans to visit her but backed out, claiming he was called into court. After she doubted his excuse, he blocked her.

Laury then reached out to @DoctorMeowskis that Gu was upset and that she was going to fly to see him.

The following day, Laury sent @DoctorMeowskis “disgustingly graphic details” of Laury and Gu’s meetup, which Gu denied. @DoctorMeowskis told him that they were better off friends. He responded by bragging about his new girlfriend, who was “younger” and “had lots of Twitter followers.”

Gu’s Instagram account shows an apparent girlfriend who appears in multiple photos with him from April 3 onward.

He convinced me I felt that way because I was jealous, was I? He was a successful surgeon who I ended things with and if this supposed famous girl wanted him, had I messed up? — Student Dr. Meow (@DoctorMeowskis) July 10, 2018

@DoctorMeowskis posted screenshots of her conversations with Laury and said she never blocked her because her account “legitimately scared” her. @DoctorMeowskis did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.

These are some of the screenshots. Remember I didn't want "her" to think I was dating the surgeon so I tried to play it cool. I did tell "her" that I heard he was seeing someone, trying to dissuade "her" pic.twitter.com/N178Y3NccH — Student Dr. Meow (@DoctorMeowskis) July 10, 2018

Though @DoctorMeowskis never directly named Gu in her thread, an earlier tweet implied that he was the ex-boyfriend in question. Gu, who is known as a prominent liberal social media activist, maintained his innocence in a tweet alluding to the woman’s accusations and claimed that he was being targeted for “speaking out.”

Since speaking out, I've been falsely accused of selling baby parts, murder, wife beating, false imprisonment, and more. After taking the knee to fight racism, I was fired. My private life has been distorted and miscontrued—with many falsehoods taken as fact. But I am innocent. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 11, 2018

He also sent messages about @DoctorMeowskis’ post to Kelly Ellis, a software engineer, who voiced her support for the woman. She said that he sent her and other women “conflicting stories” about the allegations. Gu did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment at the time of this posting.

He's DMed me about it. pic.twitter.com/J8VvgiE9ZP — Kelly Ellis (@justkelly_ok) July 11, 2018

Here's another screenshot I took just now with the current time displayed on my phone. And the notification about my flight later today. I'm not making this up. pic.twitter.com/L4hlQB4qgD — Kelly Ellis (@justkelly_ok) July 11, 2018

Several users also accused Gu of using the Mary Laury account to attack those who disagreed with him. In one incident, Laury accused a user who goes by Dr. Glaucomflecken, an ophthalmologist and writer for GomerBlog, of racism.

For those not following: @DGlaucomflecken was accused of racism because his avatar is an ophthalmoscope dressed in a top hat. His accuser was @marylaurymd which turned out to be a dummy account that @eugenegu used to harass @DoctorMeowskis (whom he assaulted in real life). https://t.co/RE0hT19uZR — Jason Woods (@jwoodsmd) July 10, 2018

I’ve done extensive searching. That person is a creation of Eugene Gu. He’s had varying interactions with an account that has changed names from Margaret lau to Mary lau to Mary laury over the year. None of those are physicians or even residents, and this goes back to Jan 2017. pic.twitter.com/82yvhNOe9p — Ben (@be_nMD) July 10, 2018

1. @eugenegu did you fabricate the Mary Laury, MD account and use it to prop up your personal account? — Sacral Decubitus (@SDecubitus) July 10, 2018

The Chronicle, a student newspaper at Duke University, published an article Wednesday morning revealing that Gu’s ex-wife was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order against him in 2015. Gu denied the claims of domestic abuse and told the news outlet that his criminal records had been expunged. This news came weeks after Donald Trump Jr. sent out a tweet calling the doctor a “wife beater.”

Update 7:00am CT, July 12: In a long Twitter thread Thursday morning, Gu responded to the allegations and told his “full side of the story.”

While incredibly hard for me, I’m going to tell you my full side of the story. I shared all the text messages, voicemails, and other evidence with a Washington Post reporter who, if it comes to it, can verify all the details I am about to describe below. There’s proof. (THREAD) — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

His gives a different version of the events that transpired when @DoctorMeowskis came to visit him, including saying she made unwanted sexual advances toward him and that he slept at the hospital several of the nights she was in town to avoid being in bed with her.

She took off my pants and tried to go on top of me to have sex but she is a lot bigger and heavier than me and I couldn’t easily breathe. I wasn’t putting up any resistance but I felt disgusted. We started to go sideways and I tried to picture my then-fiancé but I still... — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

...couldn’t maintain an erection for long and we stopped. I ended up sleeping and so did she. When we woke up, we got something to eat at a restaurant before I had to spend that night in the hospital again. I felt really disgusted but tried to hide it and move on. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

That’s the only time we met in person but soon our Twitter chats devolved into periodic unwanted sexual advances from her. She would also request over and over for us to meet again or for me to visit her. I did my best to finds ways around this and avoid another sexual encounter. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

Later in the thread, he concedes to using the Mary Laury account to DM the woman. He says, “In hindsight this was immature of me and I regret the way I used it,” but explains he used it to corroborate details of a trip he’d made up.

This is where Mary Laury comes in. In the beginning, it was an anonymous account people close to me created to address the trolling issues I was encountering from Trump supporters on Twitter. After a while I also shared access of this account to help combat the trolls. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

I used the Mary Laury account not to harass or stalk her but to corroborate the fact that I would be in DC for the weekend. In hindsight this was immature of me and I regret the way I used it, but I was desperate to find a way for her to believe me that I was unable to visit her. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

I intentionally used the burner account obnoxiously to turn her off from me and drive a wedge between us romantically. I wanted to somehow steer us into being just friends without her retaliating against me for rejecting her sexual advances. It was immature, but it worked. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

Gu includes screenshots of a text message thread with a contact labeled Laurazapam (who he says is @DoctorMeowskis) as evidence “she would still proposition me for sex in very uncomfortable ways.”

I tried my best to maintain our relationship as strictly platonic at this point but she would still proposition me for sex in very uncomfortable ways that were just awkward and unwanted. pic.twitter.com/Q6ViI7awLH — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

He says their last correspondence was a text of “???!?!?” after Donald Trump Jr. accused Gu of domestic violence.

Then a few days after Donald Trump Jr. attacked me as a “wife beater,” she texted me out of the blue with the picture below showing my false domestic violence allegations and other defamatory information. All she said in the text was “???!?!?.” I was offended and didn’t respond. pic.twitter.com/SlfdFMlGYD — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

After that, when I started tweeting about the July Effect for interns entering teaching hospitals all at once on July 1, it somehow angered the #MedTwitter community like a hive of bees. I then called out @DGlaucomflecken for a racist comment which angered her and the community. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

That’s when all hell broke loose and she falsely accused me of sexual assault and other horrendous allegations. It pains me deeply to expose such private and embarassing details like this but I had to clear my name. Reporters were even asking me to comment on my sexual assault. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

The thread concludes with his assessment of the #MeToo movement: “It’s about all human beings who are victimized by sexual assault or sexual harassment. Men can be victimized by women too.”

In summary, the #MeToo movement is not about women vs. men or men vs. women. It’s about all human beings who are victimized by sexual assault or sexual harassment. Men can be victimized by women too. And false accusations without due process is a weapon of terror. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 12, 2018

The thread begins here. Gu says he’s shared all the relevant text messages and voicemails with a Washington Post reporter.

This story has been updated for clarity. </s> A woman who had accused Donald Trump of raping her when she was 13 years old has dropped her lawsuit against the Republican nominee.

One of the accuser’s attorneys, Thomas Meagher, filed a one-page voluntary dismissal in district court in New York late Friday. Neither he nor a second attorney listed immediately responded to questions about the document.

The woman, who had filed suit earlier this year under the pseudonym Jane Doe, had alleged that Trump and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein had raped her in 1994, when she was a 13-year-old aspiring model.

This week she abruptly canceled a plan to speak publicly about the allegations, and another attorney, Lisa Bloom, cited “numerous threats” against her client.

“She has been here all day, ready to do it, but unfortunately she is in terrible fear,” Bloom said during the week. Bloom’s mother, Gloria Allred, is an attorney representing several women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.

Trump had been given a tentative court date for the civil lawsuit of December 16th and has denied all the accusations made against him.

After Doe’s suit was filed in June, Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the claims were “a complete fabrication”.

“This is basically a sham lawsuit brought by someone who desires to impact the presidential election,” he said.

A virtually identical lawsuit was filed in April in California and dismissed for technical errors.

An investigation linked the lawsuits to Norm Lubow, a former television producer with a history of disputed allegations against celebrities. Both suits named Epstein, a financier who was convicted of soliciting sex from an underage girl in 2008.

The court order to Trump and Epstein’s attorneys gave no details of Doe’s complaint, but the original suit alleged that Trump assaulted her at Epstein’s home in Manhattan and at parties hosted by the financier. </s> New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declined to open an investigation into the illegal spending of $1.4 million by an association linked to the Yonkers firefighters union.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who positioned himself as a combatant of sexual harassment and abuse in the #MeToo era and a major opponent of President Donald Trump, abruptly announced his resignation Monday after four women accused him of physical violence and illicit drug and alcohol use.

Schneiderman, a Democrat, stepped down hours after a New Yorker article was published Monday evening detailing allegations that he repeatedly slapped, choked and degraded women with whom he had been romantic with.

The article was based on similar-but-separate stories from four women who had relationships or encounters with the Democratic attorney general.

All four accused Schneiderman of striking them in various ways, with at least three of them saying Schneiderman slapped them forcefully across the face and two saying he choked them, according to the article.

Schneiderman denied ever assaulting anyone but said he would step down at the close of business Tuesday.

"In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me," Schneiderman said in a statement around 9:45 p.m. ET. "While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time."

Two of the women — Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam — told their stories on the record, while a third spoke under the condition of anonymity and a fourth told her story to Manning Barish and Selvaratnam.

Manning Barish told The New Yorker she and Schneiderman had been clothed and getting ready for bed after drinking one night when he backed her to the edge of the bed before abruptly slapping and choking her.

"All of a sudden, he just slapped me, open handed and with great force, across the face, landing the blow directly onto my ear,” Manning Barish says.

Selvaratnam also told The New Yorker that Schneiderman had slapped her, leading her to seek medical treatment for her ear.

In an initial statement before announcing his resignation, Schneiderman denied committing assault but acknowledged he had "engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity" in romantic relationships.

"I have not assaulted anyone," he said. "I have never engaged in non-consensual sex, which is I line I would not cross."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox and Manny Alicandro, Schneiderman's Republican opponent, had all called on Schneiderman to step down within hours of the article posted, as did UltraViolet, a women's advocacy group.

In a statement, Cuomo — a Democrat like Schneiderman and Gillibrand — said he would soon ask a district attorney to investigate the allegations.

"My personal opinion is that, given the damning pattern of facts and corroboration laid out in the article, I do not believe it is possible for Eric Schneiderman to continue to serve as Attorney General, and for the good of the office, he should resign," Cuomo said Monday night.

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Schneiderman had positioned himself as a champion of the #MeToo movement, suing Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company in the wake of the sexual-harassment scandal that spurred a national reckoning over the way men treat women.

The attorney general was also in the midst of a review of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's handling of a sexual-assault complaint against Weinstein. Schneiderman received an official referral for the review from Cuomo late last month.

"Every New Yorker has a right to a workplace free of sexual harassment, intimidation, and fear," Schneiderman said when he filed the Weinstein lawsuit in February.

It will be up to state lawmakers to fill the remainder of Schneiderman's term, which runs through the end of the year.

The state Legislature will vote to name his successor — which essentially puts it in the hands of Assembly Democrats, who control 104 of the Legislature's 213 seats.

A Manhattan resident, Schneiderman, 63, was first elected in 2010 after previously serving as a state senator.

He led the Senate's expulsion of then-Sen. Hiram Monserrate in 2010 when Monserrate was convicted of a misdemeanor after he was charged with slashing his girlfriend with glass.

Now in his second term as attorney general, Schneiderman has been a vocal opponent of Trump, often touting the more than 100 actions his office has brought against Trump's administration.

His dispute with Trump dates back to 2013, when Schneiderman sued Trump over his Trump University real-estate seminar, a case that became a major issue in the 2016 presidential race and ultimately ended with a $25 million settlement.

Trump's administration and family reveled in the news of the accusations against Schneiderman, seizing on past tweets from Schneiderman that hailed the national reckoning over sexual harassment and promised to hold Trump accountable to the law.

Follow Jon Campbell and Joseph Spector on Twitter: @JonCampbellGAN and @GannettAlbany </s> ST. LOUIS -- A defiant Donald Trump on Sunday attacked former President Bill Clinton for his treatment of women and vowed, if he won the White House, to put Hillary Clinton in jail for operating a private email server while U.S. secretary of state.

In a contentious town-hall debate, Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, said he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into his Democratic rival's email use because she had endangered national security during her tenure as President Barack Obama's chief diplomat from 2009-2013.

The 90-minute debate got off to a chilly start when the two candidates for the Nov. 8 election greeted each other without the traditional handshake. It quickly turned into an acrimonious discussion of a 2005 video that emerged on Friday in which Trump was heard using vulgar language and talking about groping women without consent.

Trump said he was embarrassed by the video but dismissed it as "locker room talk." President Bill Clinton had done worse to women, he said.

"Mine are words and his are action," said Trump, who appeared before the debate with women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. In the debate, Trump also accused Hillary Clinton of going on the attack against women who had alleged sexual misconduct by her husband, president from 1993-2001.

Hillary Clinton responded that Trump's comments showed he was unfit for the White House.

"He has said the video doesn't represent who he is but I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is," Clinton said.

Trump also went on the attack against Clinton over her private email server, saying: "You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Clinton said, "You know it's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in this country." Trump shot back: "Because you'd be in jail."

A nearly year-long FBI investigation into the emails concluded earlier this year without charges being filed, although FBI Director James Comey said Clinton had been careless in her handling of sensitive material.

Clinton insisted there was "no evidence" that her server had been hacked and that any classified information had ended up in the wrong hands. "I take classified material very seriously," she said.

Trump said: "You said it was fine to delete 33,000 emails. I don't think so."

Clinton shook her head. "Look it's just not true."

She accused Trump of dodging a discussion of policy issues to avoid talking about his campaign because of "the way yours is exploding and Republicans are leaving you."

A flood of Republicans have withdrawn their support for Trump over the video. The controversy has pitched Trump into the biggest crisis of his 16-month-old campaign and deepened fissures between him and establishment Republicans.

The debate's town hall-style format, with undecided voters posing about half the questions and the debate's two moderators posing the others, allowed the candidates to move freely around the stage and address the questioners directly.

Clinton, 68, and Trump, 70, both stood up to answer questions, and Clinton frequently stood directly in front of the questioners to try to make a connection with voters. At times Trump stood almost over her shoulder, or wandered the stage, while she spoke.

Trump complained about moderators Anderson Cooper of CNN and Martha Raddatz of ABC News, saying the debate was "three on one."

Trump and Clinton clashed on a series of topics throughout the debate, battling over taxes, healthcare, U.S. policy in the Syria civil war and Clinton's comments that half of Trump's supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorables."

"Within hours I said I was sorry about the way I talked about that, because my problem is not with his supporters, it's with him," Clinton said.

Trump, in a badgering tone, offered a blistering critique of Clinton's handling of foreign policy as secretary of state, repeatedly calling it a failure.

"She talks tough, she talks really tough," Trump said. "She talks about the rebels, she doesn't even know who the rebels are."

Taking a breath through his nose with a loud sniff, he continued, "The fact is almost everything she's done in foreign policy has been a mistake and a disaster."

Trump also said he disagreed with Mike Pence, his vice presidential running mate, who declared last week in his debate against Clinton's No. 2 Tim Kaine that the United States should be prepared to use military force if needed in Syria.

"He and I haven't spoken and I disagree," Trump said.

Trump met just hours before the debate on Sunday with three women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct and a fourth woman who was a victim in a rape case that Hillary Clinton participated in as a defense attorney. All four sat in the first row of the audience at the debate.

Before the debate, Trump had threatened he was going to attack Bill Clinton for his marital infidelities in response to criticism from Hillary Clinton that the Republican nominee is a misogynist who has a history of mistreating women.

Trump appeared with Paula Jones, who filed a sexual harassment suit against Bill Clinton in 1991, Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of rape in 1978, and Kathleen Willey, a former White House aide who accused Bill Clinton of groping her in 1993.

None of the accusations was new. Bill Clinton was never charged in any of the cases, and he settled a sexual harassment suit with one of the women, Paula Jones, for $850,000 with no apology or admission of guilt.

Also at the event was Kathy Shelton, who was raped at the age of 12. Hillary Clinton, a practicing attorney at the time, defended the rapist who ultimately pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Clinton's campaign responded to Trump's pre-debate event by calling it a "stunt" and a "destructive race to the bottom."

Asked at the end to name one thing each admired about the other, Clinton said she respected his children for their ability and devotion to Trump. In response, Trump called her a fighter and said he admired her for her refusal to give up.

As the moderators announced the end of the debate, the two candidates turned toward each other and shook hands.

Their next and last debate is on Oct. 19. </s> NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who had taken on high-profile roles as an advocate for women's issues and an antagonist to the policies of President Trump, announced late Monday that he would be resigning from office hours after four women he was romantically involved with accused him of physical violence in accounts published by The New Yorker.

Schneiderman, who had been running for re-election, said he contested the women's accounts, but "while these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time." He said he would resign at the close of business on Tuesday.

Two women had spoken to The New Yorker on the record, saying Schneiderman repeatedly hit them during the course of their relationships with him in recent years, and never with their consent. Neither woman filed any police complaints, but both said they sought out medical attention and confided in people close to them about the abuse.

A third woman who also was involved with him told her story to the other two women, but said she was too frightened to come forward. A fourth woman said Schneiderman slapped her when she rebuffed him, but also asked to remain unidentified. The New Yorker said it vetted the third woman's allegations, and saw a photo of what the fourth woman said was her injury.

The accusations had led Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to call for an investigation and for Schneiderman to immediately resign.

The two women who spoke on the record, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, both said the physical abuse escalated over time, including choking and hitting, and that Schneiderman also was a heavy drinker. The Associated Press is identifying the women because they agreed to tell their stories publicly.

On Twitter, after the story was published, Manning Barish said, "After the most difficult month of my life-I spoke up. For my daughter and for all women. I could not remain silent and encourage other women to be brave for me. I could not..."

Manning Barish said she was involved with Schneiderman from mid-2013 through the end of 2014; Selvaratnam said she was involved with him from the summer of 2016 until fall 2017.

Manning Barish said Schneiderman started getting violent a few weeks after they began dating, slapping her one night after an evening out and escalating to choking her. She said she confided in friends, including novelist Salman Rushdie.

Selvaratnam, who was born in Sri Lanka, said Schneiderman started calling her his "brown slave" and made her say that she was "his property."

Schneiderman, a Democrat, had issued a statement to The New Yorker saying, "In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in non-consensual sex, which is a line I would not cross."

His representatives sent the same statement to The Associated Press when asked about the accusations. They also sent a statement from his ex-wife, Jennifer Cunningham, who said, "I've known Eric for nearly 35 years as a husband, father and friend. These allegations are completely inconsistent with the man I know, who has always been someone of the highest character, outstanding values and a loving father. I find it impossible to believe these allegations are true."

Cuomo in his statement said, "No one is above the law, including New York's top legal officer. I will be asking an appropriate New York District Attorney(s) to commence an immediate investigation, and proceed as the facts merits."

Schneiderman has been a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement. He filed a lawsuit in February against movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Co. following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, saying the company broke New York law by failing to protect employees from "pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination."

He launched a civil rights probe into the New York City-based company in October after The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed allegations of sexual assault and harassment spanning decades. The company later fired Weinstein.

The women accusing him said seeing him speak out on sexual misconduct issues was part of the impetus in them coming forward.

"This is a man who has staked his entire career, his personal narrative, on being a champion for women publicly," Selvaratnam said. "But he abuses them privately. He needs to be called out."

Schneiderman, who won a state Senate seat representing a Manhattan district in 1998, became attorney general in 2010 and had been running for re-election this year. He has a history of recognition for activism on behalf of women's causes, including reproductive rights.

The 63-year-old also has been a longtime critic of President Trump, and has been part of several efforts to push back against some of his actions in the White House, like the rescinding of protection for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Last month, he urged state lawmakers to close a loophole that he said could be used to fight state charges by anyone who has received a federal pardon for similar federal charges.

On Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. offered pointed commentary. He showcased one of Schneiderman's tweets from last year saying that he would remind President Trump that no one was above the law, with Trump Jr. adding, "You were saying???"

A Republican opponent, Manny Alicandro, had just officially launched his candidacy on Monday. After The New Yorker report, Alicandro said, "If true, he is a disgrace and wholly unfit for the role of New York State's chief legal officer. I believe the accusers." </s> WASHINGTON — Donald Trump mischaracterized the record on Hillary Clinton’s defense of her husband and her own treatment of women when he brought up Bill Clinton’s sexual history and other episodes of the past. Clinton didn’t give a square account of the fallout from her email practices.

A look at some of the claims in the second presidential debate:

TRUMP, asked whether the predatory behavior with women that he described in a 2005 video amounted to sexual assault: “No, I didn’t say that at all.”

THE FACTS: He certainly didn’t own up to sexual assault in his boastful remarks in 2005. But he clearly described groping and kissing women without their permission, using his celebrity to impose himself on them.

“I don’t even wait,” he bragged in the video. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” He went on: “Grab them by the p——. You can do anything.”

He described a specific sexual advance toward a married woman. “I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there.”

TRUMP on Hillary Clinton’s behavior when, as a young public defender, she was assigned to represent an accused child rapist: “She’s seen on two separate occasions, laughing at the girl who was raped. Kathy Shelton, that young woman, is here with us tonight.”

THE FACTS: At no point was Clinton seen laughing at the victim.

In 1975, at the age of 12, Shelton was sexually assaulted in Northwest Arkansas. Clinton was asked by a judge overseeing the case to represent her alleged attacker. After the prosecution lost key evidence, Clinton’s client entered a plea to a lesser charge.

In an interview a decade later, Clinton expressed horror at the crime, but was recorded on tape laughing about procedural details of the case. The audio has been seized on by conservative groups looking to attack Clinton’s presidential candidacy but does not convey mirth at the girl’s fate.

TRUMP on women linked to Bill Clinton sexually: “Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously.”

THE FACTS: There is no clear, independent evidence that Hillary Clinton “viciously” attacked women who alleged or confirmed sexual contact with her husband.

To be sure, in the 1992 Democratic primaries, she was deeply involved in the Clinton campaign’s effort to discredit one accuser, actress Gennifer Flowers, who alleged she had a long-running affair with Bill Clinton. Both Clintons acknowledged past troubles in their marriage but sought to undermine Flowers’ claims. Bill Clinton later acknowledged in a 1998 court deposition that he had a sexual encounter with Flowers.

Hillary Clinton was also quoted over the years making disparaging comments about other women linked with her husband.

What is lacking is proof that she engineered efforts to smear their reputation. Diane Blair, a political science professor and long-time Hillary Clinton friend who died in 2000, left behind an account of private interviews with Hillary Clinton in which she told her during the Monica Lewinsky affair that she considered the former White House intern a “narcissistic loony toon.”

CLINTON: “After a yearlong investigation, there is no evidence that anyone hacked the server I was using, and there is no evidence that anyone can point to, at all … that any classified material ended up in the wrong hands.”

THE FACTS: Maybe, maybe not. While there’s indeed no direct, explicit evidence that classified information was leaked or that her server was breached, it was nevertheless connected to the internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers — and the public may never know who saw them. FBI Director James Comey has said: “We assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail account.”

The Associated Press previously discovered that her private server, which has been a major campaign issue for Clinton and the focus of U.S. investigations, appeared to allow users to connect to it openly over the internet and control it remotely. That practice, experts said, wasn’t intended to be used without additional protective measures, and was the subject of U.S. government warnings at the time over attacks from even amateur hackers.

Since the AP in early 2013 traced her server to her home in Chappaqua, New York, Clinton hasn’t fully explained who administered her server, if it received software updates to plug security holes or if it was monitored for unauthorized access. It’s also unclear what, if any, encryption software Clinton’s server may have used to communicate with official U.S. government email accounts.

Comey has said Clinton and her staff “were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” But he said the FBI won’t recommend criminal charges against Clinton for use of the server while she was secretary of state and closed the investigation.

TRUMP on Bill Clinton: “He lost his license. He had to pay an $850,000 fine.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s facts are, at best, jumbled. In 1998, lawyers for Bill Clinton settled with former Arkansas state employee Paul Jones for $850,000 in her four-year lawsuit alleging sexual harassment. It was not a fine, and there was no finding or admission of wrongdoing.

Trump erred in describing the legal consequences of that case. In a related case before the Arkansas State Supreme Court, Clinton was fined $25,000 and his Arkansas law license was suspended for five years. Clinton also faced disbarment before the U.S. Supreme Court but he opted to resign from the court’s practice instead of facing any penalties.

CLINTON: “We are now, for the first time ever, energy independent.”

THE FACTS: Clinton inaccurately overstates the case. For the first time in decades the United States gets more energy domestically than it imports, but it is not yet energy independent as the country continues to rely on oil imports, from the Mideast and elsewhere. Estimates vary as to when the U.S. might achieve energy independence.

Domestic oil production has greatly increased in recent years. And at the same time oil imports as a percentage of consumption have dropped, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Oil imports have dropped from 3.58 billion barrels in 2008 to 2.68 billion barrels in 2015.

TRUMP: “She (Clinton) wants to go to a single-payer plan, which would be a disaster … she wants to go to single-payer, which means the government basically rules everything.”

THE FACTS: It’s Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — not Clinton — who supports a Canada-style government-run health care system.

While Clinton’s health care proposals would expand the government’s role in the health care system, she’s not talking about dismantling the current system, which is a hybrid of employer-sponsored coverage, government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and individually purchased insurance.

As president, Clinton would push for a government-sponsored insurance plan in the health care markets created by President Barack Obama’s health care law, as an alternative to private insurance. But those markets currently cover about 11 million people, while about 155 million have job-based coverage.

In excerpts from Clinton’s paid speeches she gave behind closed doors, though, she did praise Canada’s universal coverage and said that single-payer systems were “as good or better” when it came to basic medical care. But she also noted drawbacks of such health care systems, such as longer wait times for procedures.

TRUMP: “I would not have had our troops in Iraq.”

THE FACTS: Trump actually offered lukewarm support for invading Iraq before the war began. He’s repeatedly and erroneously claimed to have come out against the war before it started, telling Howard Stern in September 2002: “Yeah I guess so,” when asked if he would back an invasion.

This time, his claim was slightly different — that if he had been president at the time, he would not have invaded. It’s conceivable, at least, that he would have taken a position in office at odds with his stance as a private citizen. A few months before the March 2003 invasion, he did tell Fox News that the economy and threats from North Korea posed greater problems than Iraq.

TRUMP: “I don’t like Assad at all. But Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS.”

THE FACTS: Only partially true. Syria’s President Bashar Assad considers the Islamic State group to be among numerous “terrorist” groups that threaten his government. His overstretched military is mainly focused on combating Syrian opposition groups, some of which are supported by the United States. Assad does use air power against IS-held areas and his ground forces are engaged in fighting with the extremists in Deir el-Zour in the east.

TRUMP, asked whether he had ever sexually assaulted a woman: “No, I have not.”

THE FACTS: He’s been accused of it but a case has not been proved.

Trump’s first wife, Ivana Trump, accused him of rape in a deposition in the early 1990s. She later said she didn’t mean it literally, but rather that she felt violated. Trump was also sued for sexual harassment in 1997 by Jill Harth, a woman who, along with her romantic partner, was pitching Trump to get involved in a pin-up competition in the early 1990s.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Harth said Trump ran his hands up her skirt during dinner in 1992, and on another occasion, she said Trump tried to force himself on her in his daughter Ivanka’s bedroom. “Next thing I know he’s pushing me against a wall and has his hands all over me,” Harth told the newspaper. Harth dropped her harassment lawsuit against Trump after he settled a separate breach of contract lawsuit. Trump has denied Harth’s allegations.

TRUMP: “She is raising your taxes and I am lowering your taxes. … She’s raising everybody’s taxes massively.”

CLINTON: “He would end up raising taxes on middle-class families”

THE FACTS: Clinton is not raising taxes on “everybody.” Nearly all of Hillary Clinton’s proposed tax increases would affect the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Trump is proposing massive tax cuts for both individuals and businesses. Yet it’s not clear that all Americans would benefit. The conservative Tax Foundation estimates that the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers would see their after-tax income rise from 0.8 percent to 1.9 percent. The wealthiest 1 percent would see their after-tax incomes rise at least 10.2 percent to 16 percent.

Yet Clinton may be right that Trump’s proposals would increase taxes on many middle- and lower-income families. Trump’s plan eliminates the personal exemption, which currently allows households to reduce their taxable income by $4,050 for each member of the household, including children. He would replace that with higher deductions, but for many single parents and families with three or more children, the standard deduction wouldn’t be large enough to offset the loss of personal exemptions.

TRUMP, asked whether his tweets directing people to check out a sex tape showed discipline: “It wasn’t ‘check out a sex tape.’”

THE FACTS: Yes it was. Trump tweeted “check out sex tape and past” of former 1996 Miss Universe Alicia Machado, a woman whom Clinton discussed in the first presidential debate as an example of Trump’s derogatory comments about women.

Machado has publicly supported Clinton and criticized Trump for body-shaming her by calling her “Miss Piggy” and threatening to take away her crown for gaining weight.

The video Trump appeared to be referring to was from a Spanish reality show. In 2005, Machado, who was a contestant on the show, was filmed in bed, under the covers with a male contestant and speaking sexually about his body parts. The grainy footage doesn’t show nudity, though Machado has said that she was having sex in the footage.

CLINTON: “If we repeal (Obama’s health care law) as Donald has proposed, all of those benefits I have mentioned are lost to everybody … and then we will have to start all over again.”

THE FACTS: Clinton is essentially correct. Congressional Republicans have promised their replacement plan for Obama’s health care law would provide coverage for the uninsured, but they have not provided enough detail to allow a rigorous comparison. A complete repeal of the health care law would wipe the slate clean and lawmakers would have to start over.

Republicans have expressed support for some goals of the health care law, such as assuring that people with health problems can get coverage, but whether a GOP replacement plan would work as well remains to be seen. Trump’s own plan was recently evaluated by the Commonwealth Fund and the RAND Corporation, and the analysis found would increase the number of uninsured people by about 20 million. </s> WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has mocked the #MeToo movement, saying that the campaign made it improper to use the phrase "the person who got away".

Trump's claim that #MeToo prevents him for using the phrase is his latest volley against the movement, which became a force after sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein surfaced last year.

"There's an expression, but under the rules of #MeToo, I am not allowed to use that expression anymore. I can't do it," Trump said at a mid-term election rally in Pennsylvania, and then he pointed at the phrase "the girl that got away".

"It's the person that got away. The old days, it was a little different than Pennsylvania to it," he said as he spoke about winning the state in the 2016 presidential election Pointing to the media, Trump said he would use the original phrase, except for the media.

"I would do it except for these people up there. They would say, did you hear what President Trump said? Did you hear what he said?" he said imitating reporters.

"So, there is an expression, but we'll change the expression. Pennsylvania was always the person that got away. That's pretty good," he said amidst applause from the audience.

The revelation of the allegations against Weinstein inspired many women to reveal their own stories of sexual assault, but Trump has recently taken shots at the #MeToo movement by expressing concern for men who are accused of sexual assault or harassment.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's recent confirmation hearings renewed attention to the topic as the Senate considered Christine Blasey Ford's accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.

The president told reporters the notion that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted someone and that the allegations from Ford and other women could be taken as fact made this a 'very scary time for young men in America.'

Trump had earlier mocked the #MeToo movement at a rally in July.

He did so while simultaneously mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and saying that should she win the Democratic nomination in 2020 and they were to debate, he would toss an ancestry test to her and dare her to take it. </s> United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday mocked the MeToo campaign again and claimed it prevents him from using certain phrases as they were not politically correct any more, CNN reported.

At a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump spoke about him winning the state during the 2016 presidential election. “Pennsylvania hasn’t been won for many years by Republicans, but every Republican thinks they’re going to win Pennsylvania,” Trump said. “I used an expression – you know, there’s an expression – but under the rules of MeToo, I’m not allowed to use that expression anymore. I can’t do it.”

“It’s the person that got away,” Trump continued. “See, in the old days, it was a little different.” Trump was likely referring to a Frank Sinatra song titled The Gal That Got Away, which was his cover of a song called The Man That Got Away from a 1954 film, according to HuffPost.

“I would do it except for these people [media] up there,” Trump said when a rally attendee asked him to use it anyway. “They would say, ‘did you hear what President Trump said? Did you hear what he said’.”

He added: “So there is an expression, but we’ll change the expression: Pennsylvania was always the person who got away, that’s pretty good, right, the person that got away?”

Trump had mocked the MeToo campaign at a rally in July as well. While mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren’s heritage, Trump said he would have to “gently” toss a DNA test Warren’s way so as not to hurt her “because we are in the MeToo generation”.

Last week, Trump said allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh showed that “it’s a very scary time for young men in America”. His attacks on professor Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, was seen a push-back against the MeToo movement.

The allegations of sexual assault against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein led to the #MeToo movement, where women across the world have publicly accused men in positions of power of sexual misconduct. </s> ST. LOUIS — In a stunningly brazen move, Donald Trump met Sunday night with several women who have accused Bill Clinton of rape and other unwanted sexual advances, just over an hour before the Republican presidential nominee was stepping on the debate stage with the former president’s wife, Hillary Clinton.

The Trump pre-debate event was the clearest sign yet that he planned to use Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs to try to distract from the swirling controversy over his own predatory remarks about women. Trump is under enormous pressure from his own Republican Party after the release of a 2005 video in which the businessman can be heard saying his fame allows him to “do anything” to women.

Trump refused to answer questions from reporters about the video during his meeting in a hotel conference room with Paula Jones, Kathy Shelton, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey. Some of the women seated alongside him, however, were graphic in their accusations against the Clintons.

“Mr. Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me,” Broaddrick said. “I don’t think there’s any comparison.”

Broaddrick, a former Arkansas nursing home administrator, first claimed 17 years ago that Bill Clinton raped her during a meeting in Little Rock in 1978. Her lawsuit against him was dismissed in 2001 and criminal charges were never filed. Clinton has denied the allegations.

Trump is trying to change the subject from his own conduct. Even before Friday’s new revelations of his sexual remarks about women, his campaign was slumping. But the release of the 2005 video has some leading Republicans convinced the damage is insurmountable.

Even Trump’s most loyal supporters struggled to defend him on Sunday.

“They’re remarks you certainly don’t want to hear from anyone, much less a presidential candidate,” Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, said on CNN. “I think he made a full and complete apology for it. He probably is going to do it again tonight.”

Clinton has stayed largely silent since the video was made public, though running mate Tim Kaine accused Trump of engaging in a “pattern of assaultive behavior.”

“I think there’s kind of a piece of the jigsaw puzzle missing in Donald Trump where he does not look at women and consider them as equal to himself,” Kaine said on CNN.

Trump’s troubles have almost completely overshadowed the release of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign that revealed the contents of previously secret paid speeches to Wall Street. Clinton told bankers behind closed doors that she favored “open trade.” Such remarks were at odds with her tough public comments.

Trump allies desperately hope the businessman can keep his focus in the debate on Clinton, raising questions about her trustworthiness and pushing his own populist economic ideas. The candidates will face questions in the town hall-style setting both from moderators and undecided voters seated with them on stage, a format that typically rewards candidates who show empathy and connect with the problems facing Americans.

But as Trump’s meeting with Clinton’s accusers indicated, he appeared to have other priorities.

Trump has long hinted he would raise Bill Clinton’s sexual history at debates. In what was billed as a videotaped apology for the 2005 videotaped remarks, Trump said “Bill Clinton has actually abused women” and Hillary Clinton “bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated” her husband’s “victims.”

Clinton’s campaign appeared unconcerned by the prospect of Trump raising Bill Clinton’s past.

“If that is how he chooses to spend his time in the debate, then that’s his decision,” Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters. “I’m not sure that’s what voters are going to want to hear.”

At a fundraiser in Chicago, President Barack Obama called Trump’s rhetoric “disturbing.” Obama said “it tells you that he’s insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down.”

Trump’s own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has declared he could neither condone nor defend the remarks in the video revealed on Friday.

Other Republicans have taken the extraordinary step of revoking support for their party’s nominee. Among them: Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte — both are running for re-election — and the party’s 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain. Some called on Trump to quit the race.

“I thought about years from now when my daughter Kate is old enough to know what is in those tapes and to understand what he is talking about,” Ayotte said of her 12-year-old daughter during a press conference Sunday. “I want her to know where I stood.”

Trump spent Sunday morning highlighting Twitter messages from supporters who slammed Republican leaders for abandoning him. In his own message, Trump said, “So many self-righteous hypocrites. Watch their poll numbers — and elections — go down!”

Republican leaders scheduled a rare Monday conference call for House GOP lawmakers, who are on recess. An email obtained by The Associated Press doesn’t specify the topic, but rank-and-file lawmakers believe it’s about Trump.
Eugene Gu, a doctor famous for successfully suing President Donald Trump for blocking him on Twitter, has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who says she’s his ex.