Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand took questions from reporters Monday evening outside the Capitol building, addressing for the first time allegations that her office didn’t properly probe an allegation of sexual harassment last year.
Gillibrand defended her office’s investigation, calling it “thorough and professional,” “thorough and complete,” “professional and thorough,” and said it was done “thoroughly and appropriately,” according to Politico, which was first to report on the allegations Monday. Despite Gillibrand’s defense of thoroughness, she ultimately fired the man at the center of the allegations last week after Politico presented her office with the findings of their investigation.
Last summer, a female staffer in Gillibrand’s office resigned over the office’s handling of an investigation into allegations that a senior aide, Abbas Malik, had made unwanted sexual advances toward her and had a reputation for making lewd jokes and demeaning comments about women’s appearance.
At the time, Malik was disciplined following Gillibrand’s investigation into the matter, but remained on staff.
So, if you’re going to set yourself up as a Moral Arbiter, Senator, your own handling of these types of things must be squeaky clean. This wasn’t.
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Oh, and kiss your Presidential aspirations goodbye.
Thorough? Gillibrand’s “thorough” investigation failed to interview two former staffers who were identified in the original complaint as able to corroborate the alleged behavior and only did so after being challenged by Politico’s findings months after the official “thorough” investigation was complete. Not good damage control or responsible ownership of a flawed process.
You can’t spell “through” without “thorough”. You’re through, it wasn’t thorough.
I can’t imagine handling this with the clear ineptitude that is evidenced. She got rid of Franken, and this happened afterwards. After.
She was just re-elected. I think there will be a strong challenge for her in 2024.
If she can’t handle a single, non-adulatory POLITICO article, how will she stand up to some real scrutiny? Or Putin? God forbid.