By Associated Press - Tuesday, December 12, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump and allegations of sexual misconduct (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump’s tweet disparaging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (KEER’-sten JIHL’-uh-brand) is “disgusting and disgraceful, and of course obviously not true.”



Trump tweeted Tuesday that Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, would come to his office “begging” for campaign contributions and would “do anything” to get them.

Democrats accused the president of making crude insinuations.

A day earlier, Gillibrand said Trump should resign because there were credible accusations against him. Barring that, she said, “Congress should investigate the multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations against him.”

Pelosi says she supports the more than 100 Democrats who have called for a congressional investigation into the allegations. When asked if Trump should resign, she says, “I don’t think he ever should have been president.”

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3:45 p.m.

The White House says “there’s no way” the president’s tweet about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (KEER’-sten JIHL’-uh-brand) was “sexist at all.”

President Donald Trump lashed out at the New York Democrat in a tweet Tuesday, calling her a “lightweight” and a “total flunky” for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

Trump also said Gillibrand “would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago” and would “do anything for them.”

Gillibrand called the tweet a “sexist smear,” and Trump ignored a reporter’s question about the tweet.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump was talking about a political system he thinks is rigged and the fact that politicians repeatedly beg for money.

Sanders says only people with their minds in the gutter would read anything sexual into the tweet.

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2 p.m.

The White House is offering a rebuttal to sexual misconduct allegations involving President Donald Trump.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had promised that the White House would provide a list of eyewitnesses and evidence to exonerate Trump.

Nearly 24 hours later, it sent over a rebuttal of just two of the accounts, one that Trump groped a woman on a plane in the 1970s, the other that he behaved inappropriately in a beauty pageant dressing room.

But both simply cited news reports quoting eyewitnesses who vouched for Trump’s behavior.

Several of Trump’s accusers have resurfaced their accusations against the president amid a rising tide sexual misconduct claims that have cost a number of powerful men positions of prominence in entertainment, journalism and politics.

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11:35 a.m.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has fired back at President Donald Trump for his tweet against New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Warren asks: “are you really trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame @SenGillibrand?”

Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Gillibrand after she called for his resignation over sexual misconduct allegations. Democrats say Trump made unsavory insinuations about Gillibrand.

Warren said in a tweet: “Do you know who you’re picking a fight with? Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump. Nevertheless, #shepersisted.”

The phrase “she persisted” went viral from a comment earlier this year by the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He silenced Warren when she tried to read a letter from Coretta Scott King about then-attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.

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11:29 a.m.

A Senate Democrat is showing her support for her colleague Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen says, “There’s nobody tougher” than Gillibrand and she won’t be intimidated by President Donald Trump.

Shaheen, D-N.H., says “Women will continue to speak up.”

Trump slammed Gillibrand after she called on him to resign over past allegations of sexual misconduct. Gillibrand responded by saying she and other women won’t be silenced.

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11:25 a.m.

The political money website OpenSecrets.org says President Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, have donated nearly $8,000 to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s congressional campaigns since 2007.

The group says the figures are based on individual contributions data from the Federal Election Commission.

Trump gave Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, $4,800 in two separate contributions in September 2010. The money came just ahead of a special election to fill the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton’s Senate term. Gillibrand was re-elected to a full Senate term in 2012. Ivanka Trump donated $2,000 to Gillibrand in 2014.

Trump criticized Gillibrand in a tweet Tuesday, saying she came “begging” to him for contributions.

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11:15 a.m.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says President Donald Trump’s latest tweet about her was a “sexist smear” aimed at silencing her voice. The New York Democrat says she won’t be silenced on the issue of sexual harassment.

She’s renewing her calls for a congressional investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against the president, because she says that’s “the right thing to do.”

Gillibrand silently shook her head at the idea that she had “begged” Trump for campaign contributions.

Trump earlier Tuesday laced into Gillibrand, tweeting that she would come to his office “begging” for campaign contributions and “do anything” to get them.

Democrats accused the president of making unsavory insinuations about the New York senator.

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11:05 a.m.

A House Democrat is lashing out at President Donald Trump for his tweet about New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, calling him a “truly disgraceful human being.”

Trump criticized Gillibrand on Tuesday, tweeting that she would come to his office “begging” for campaign contributions and “do anything” to get them. Democrats accused the president of making unsavory insinuations about the New York senator. On Monday, Gillibrand had called for Trump’s resignation, citing accusations of sexual misconduct.

Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth said in a statement that in responding to the allegations, Trump had tried to “publicly shame yet another woman” and in the process “the president has shown us exactly what kind of person he is.”

Yarmuth said: “This is not about politics. Donald Trump has proven to be a poison for the presidency, a cancer on the country, and a truly disgraceful human being.”

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9:10 a.m.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is responding to a Twitter attack by President Donald Trump over her call for him to resign over past allegations of sexual misconduct.

The New York Democrat tweeted: “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office.”

Gillibrand on Monday had called for Trump to resign, after several women called new attention to past allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump.

On Twitter Tuesday, Trump called Gillibrand a “lightweight.”

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8:35 a.m.

President Donald Trump is lashing out at Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has called on him to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump calls the New York Democrat “lightweight” and “a total flunky for Chuck Schumer,” the Senate Democratic leader.

Trump says Gillibrand “would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them).”

Gillibrand told CNN on Monday that the allegations of sexual misconduct are credible and numerous and that Trump should resign.

Trump sailed past a raft of allegations of sexual misconduct in last year’s presidential election, but the national #MeToo spotlight is turning back to the president and his past conduct.

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7:38 a.m.

President Donald Trump is pushing back against sexual misconduct allegations, saying he’s the target of “false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met.”

Trump lashed out on Twitter Tuesday, a day after three women who previously accused Trump of sexual harassment shared their stories on NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today.”

Trump says Democrats “have been unable to show any collusion with Russia” and now are “moving on” to these allegations. He adds: “FAKE NEWS!”

The women - Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey and Rachel Crooks - urged Congress to investigate Trump’s behavior.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied the allegations Monday and pledged to provide a list of eyewitnesses whose accounts exonerated the president. She did not provide the list by late Monday.

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