Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand D-N.Y., who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said former Vice President Joe Biden will need to reckon with the #MeToo allegations he faces if he decides to run for president.
“Lucy Flores felt demeaned and that’s never OK. And if Vice President Biden decides to run for president this is something he’s going to have to address directly with the American people,” Gillibrand told reporters Monday evening on Capitol Hill.
Flores, a former Nevada assemblywoman, accused Biden last week of smelling her hair and planting an unwelcome “big slow kiss” on the back of her head in 2014 at a campaign event.
On Monday, a second accuser, Amy Lappos, came forward stating Biden pulled her close to rub noses, saying that she thought at the time he was about to force a kiss.
“This is the Al Franken thing all over again,” Lappos said, referring to former Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., whose political career fell apart amid his own #MeToo controversy.
Republicans and Democrats have responded in a variety of ways to the Biden fiasco, with some saying he was being overly friendly with women and others calling for him to drop out of the 2020 race altogether.
Gillibrand has emerged as a de facto champion of the #MeToo movement. In 2017, Gillibrand led the charge in getting Franken to resign from the Senate after allegations surfaced against him that he groped women without their permission.
However, she too has become embroiled in #MeToo scandal when it was reported her office faced allegations of mismanagement of sexual harassment claims by staffers.
Gillibrand has held steady in the polls at 1% or less in the Democratic primary race.
