>> i'm wolf blitzer and it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you are watching, thanks very much for joining us. right now pressure on president donald trump over allegations of sexual assault as nearly 60 female members of congress call for a formal investigation into the allegations. we expect to hear from some of them any moment now. stand by for that. the president is hitting right back against those sexual assault claims. his accusers and the democrats tweeting in part the democrats have been unable to show collusion with russia and they are moving on to the false

accusations and fabricated stories of women who i don't know and or have never met. it's this tweet that is stirring lots more emotion. lightweight senator kirstin gillibrand, a total flunky for chuck schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago and would do anything for them is in the ring fighting against trump. very disloyal to bill and crooked. used. gillibrand has been outspoken on the issue of sexual harassment, calling on president trump to resign. after the president's tweet, she fired the right back saying she and other women speaking out won't be silenced. let's go to our senioracosta. are you hearing more reaction? what else are officials saying about the rather controversial

presidential tweets? >> we have gone back to the press secretary and her top aides over the last several hours to ask what the president meant when he said kirstin gillibrand who has been critical of him and called on him to resign as you said to cnn. what he meant when he said that senator gill brandt would do anything for a campaign contribution. as he was signing a defense authorization bill at the white house in the last several minutes, i asked what he meant about that and he did not respond. senator gillibrand is responding and here's what she had to say. >> it was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice. i will not be silenced on this issue. neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday and neither will the millions of women who have been marching since the women's march to stand up against policies they do not agree with. >> as to how sensitive this matter is, i will tell you in

the moments before i asked the president that question in the roosevelt room as he was signing that defense authorization bill. the white house press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders pulled me aside prior to me asking that question of the president and she warned me that if i asked the president a question at this pool spray, she could not promise i would be allowed into a pool spray again. wolf, this was a direct threat coming from the press secretary to me, warning me not to ask a question. i went ahead and asked the question anyway and the president did not respond. wolf, we don't respond to threats and we won't be intimidated. that did ha happen prior to my asking the question of the president. >> i want you to stand by because the news conference on capitol hill is getting under way. this is the democratic women's working group with representatives. they are speaking out right now. let's listen in. >> the me too movement has

arrived. sexual abuse will not be tolerated. whether it's by a hollywood producer, the chef of a restaurant, a member of congress or the president of the united states. no man or woman is above the law. me too is saying loud and clear that accusations of sexual abuse should be taken seriously. victims must be heard and perpetrators must be held accountable and all parties should have an opportunity for a fair resolution. to date, more than 17 women have publicly come forward to accuse donald trump of sexual misconduct. as far as kissing, unwanted touching and groping. on an airplane, in a corporate office, in a pageant dressing room. the president tweets denials and his press secretary comes out to

say the matter has been litig e litigat litigated. which is why over 100 democrats and incidentally the letter that we talk about was initially sent by 59 of the women in our democratic caucus and the men had insisted they join us. we have over 100 members right now and that number is rising. we have joined in a letter to the oversight and government committee calling for a congressional investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct by donald j. trump. simply said, americans deserve the truth. >> they have written a formal letter to the chairman of the house and the ranking democrat elijah cummings wanting a full investigation of the president of the united states amidst sexual misconduct allegations. let's discuss this and morn and

we have the senior writer and our political director and bloomberg news white house reporter shannon pety piece. 60 women and a bunch of democratic men, lawmakers have signed on and want a formal investigation by the committee. >> the issue is not going away. the topic which in a new news cycle where topics come in and out within a few mores, this issue around sexual misconduct around the president and members of congress and the media across industries is sticking. it is clearly resonating with a lot of people. on this issue with the president, of course these are democrats. republicans control the house and the senate. it will be in republican jurisdiction to decide whether they want to move forward and it looks bad on the republicans's party if they don't. if there is a shift in 2018, this is one more thing that the democrats could do to come after the president.

>> trey gowdy is the republican chairman and has to make an important decision. >> he does although as was just being said, clearly there is no expectation that the republicans are going to take the lead on this. i think it is a preview of what a democratically controlled congress may look like if after the elections, the democrats regain the majority. the issues of this kind of investigation, impeachment hearings and more calls for resignation and everything you are hearing is less about what they can do in this moment and more about a predicate for an argument for voters around 2018 and what a democratic controlled congress may look like. >> i want to get into this tweet that the president launched against new york democratic senator kirstin gillibrand. let me put it up on the screen. lightweight senator, a total flunky for shuck schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for contributions

not so long ago and would do anything for them is now in the ring fighting agains trump. very disloyal to bill and crooked. used. and would do anything for them. hold on for a moment. jackie spear is now speaking out. we will get back to you. >> hi. it is under that house rule that we are calling on the committee to do the investigation. but what took place this morning when the president tweeted about our colleague, senator kirstin gillibrand is grotesque. it took my breath away and it represents the conduct of a person who is ill equipped to be the peri the president of the united states. >> we we will all say amen to that, yes.

>> [inaudible]. >> i think all of us have taken the position that we want a fair process here. some of us have been working with the house administration committee to get a fair process. i think that's what we are all about. >> i think the democratic party has been very strong in saying that there should be an ethics investigation and that you have seen actions from the democratic party that we are not running away from this. we are standing together and saying accountability goes all the way to the white house. >> you know, i think we believe that sexual abuse victims and perpetrators, there is no specific necessity or party. i think republican and democrats and independents and all equal opportunity offenders. anybody else? if not, thank you very much.

>> that was congresswoman lois frankel of florida. very, very angry at that tweet that the president launched especially in parentheses about kirstin gillibrand, and would do anything for them. asking for campaign contributions. >> we heard congresswoman spear call it a grotesque statement unfit for the president's office. she has been one of the leading lawmakers pushing the effort to bring more transparency on to the process as to how the claims are handled. what's important is senator gillibrand's response. she said she would not be silenced. president trump referred to her as someone in the ring with him on these issues. the tweets tell you about the president's role. he sees her as a political opponent and what a 2020 campaign can and will look like against the president. the argument that democrats are likely to wage. there is so much attention being

paid to the issues of harassment and misconduct of powerful men in all walks of and not just politics. >> what did the president mean when he said and would do anything? >> jim acosta asked him that and he refused to answer. only one person can answer that question and nobody else can answer that and he refused to do so. clearly that question hangs out there about what he meant. although kirstin gillibrand feel they have a clear idea of what he meant. >> senator warren was blunt in that area. >> exactly. to the point of looking ahead to 2020, kirstin gillibrand is thrilled to have this fight. she wants to be in the arena and be seen as the opponent to donald trump. you will will recall a few weeks ago, she was out there in a

podcast saying if bill clinton were having his problems now, he should resign from office. you saw her leading the way on al franken, a beloved liberal in her own party to get him out of office and get his resignation. this is part of becoming her 2020 brand as she is clearly going to be looking at a possible presidential contest as well. >> i wonder about the issue of women's rights and going after them. how strong of a brand or case that is going to be in 2020. i know there is a lot that can happen between now and then. we have been talking about it sillier at this point, but in 2016, the election was not about that. the democrats tried to make it about that and the accusers and the "access hollywood" video and voters said no, it's about a job and immigration and strong america and the other issues. i don't know. >> i agree with you. it may not be a voting issue

then, but it's part of her brand building right now. i'm not looking to the electorate. as kirstin gillibrand is forming her brand in advance of that, this is an issue that he fully identified with. >> one of the other tweets, this is the president and i will read it to you. despite thousands of hours waste and many millions of dollars spent, the democrats have been unable to show collusion with russia and they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women i don't know and or have never met. fake news. >> there is a lot to unpack there. you have the president saying these women are coming out because democrats are pushing this and he didn't know these women. you have him saying that the instances didn't happen. this is something the white house said time and time again. this was asked and answered in the 2016 campaign. th they elected president donald trump. when you have more than 100 members of congress saying there

should be an investigation for lewd comments to sexual assault, not only is this not asked and answer and not just a he said she said, but he he said she said she said she said issue. we don't have evidence that there were eyewitnesss out there who denied they happened. >> there is evidence of the president on tape himself. this howard stern interview and the "access hollywood" tape. >> simply because he got elected is not the answer to the question. that doesn't negate what these women are saying simply because he got elected despite the allegations being out in public. >> it's a hot issue right now. a year or two ago or five years ago, not as hot. this is a compelling development that happened over the past few months. certainly not going away. guys, thanks very, very much. let's move on to election day in alabama. voters are deciding on one of

the most talked about senate elections in recent memory, a race that could have a big impact on the balance of power in washington. the controversial republican candidate came to the polls on horseback hoping to voters looked past allegations that he sexually assaulted young girls when he was in his 30s. calling homosexuality an inherent evil. democrat doug jones, a former prosecutor is hoping to break the strangle hold on alabama senate seats. in the hours heading to election dates, we heard a wide range of final arguments from basketball favorite charles barkley with doug jones warning fellow al bammians. >> i love alabama, but at some point we have to draw a line in the sand. we are not a bunch of damn idiots. >> then there was kayla moore,

roy moore's wife fighting back against allegations of anti-semitism. >> one of our attorneys is a jew. >> and roy moore himself telling voters who to listen to. >> we are not going to stand by and let other people from out of state and money from california control this election. >> moore said at a rally with president trump's former chief strategist steve bannon, they both spoke. steve bannon is not from alabama. kaylee hartung is in montgomery right now. each candidate made a final push with very different messages. what are we expecting? >> wolf, it's so difficult to tell standing at this one precinct 101 in montgomery. the state capital. what i can tell you is there has been a steady line of voters in this precinct suggesting that turn out is good.

speaking with one official he said it's not the turn out we would see for a presidential election, but greater than they saw for the run off and the republican primary in the lead up to this election. that being said, this state is so interesting for so many reasons. one of them being that so few people we learned want to tell you who they voted for because of how polarizing this race has been. we learned that folk who is voted for doug jones are much more willing to share that vote with you. that's apparent as you see doug jones signs in yards throughout the state. very few roy moore signs. we encountered more people here today who have taken the opportunity to defend roy moore and one woman said she wouldn't want people asking what she did 40 years ago. there is an interesting dynamic on this election day. we heard richard shelby he values the sanctity of the ballot and many people keeping

that vote to themselves today. >> kaylee hartung in alabama. both sides have been pushing very, very hard to get out the vote with turn out potentially making all the difference in this critically important race. john king, where do we expect to see the key battle grounds across the state? >> kaylie made a great point. this is an off year election. this is not a normal senate election. who will turn out? we don't know. the steady turn out and who does it benefit? we will be counting the votes in six or seven hours from now. let's go back to a different race to remind you. this is the presidential race in 2016 and it's not a surprise to anybody. this is a ruby, ruby red deep republican state. the math is in favor of roy moore and not doug jones. this doesn't mean he can't win. let's go back to 2012.

barack obama got just 38% of the vote in ruby red cal a.alabama. he only won with 52% of the vote. he does under perform other republicans because moderate republicans don't like to vote for him because of his positions mostly on the social issues. what would doug jones have to do? bob vance lost with 48%, but imagine doug jones is using this map. where kaylie is is in montgomery. democrats have to not only run it up, but doug jones needs to not only do that. it's the math. do people turn out near presidential turn out. college students and other democratic voters near montgomery and birmingham. it is critical that doug jones run up huge margins. we expect him to win in the

northern and the southern belt of the state. what about the suburbs? shelby county and south of birmingham, this is a place where luther strange did well against roy moore. moderate republican voters. do they stay home and vote for roy jones? that's what we will be looking for. no business that pensacola is in florida. nobody who lives here can vote in this election. that's where the president went because he wanted to influence voters in the mobile area. the democrats won one county and performed well in the other. this will be key here. more moderate mainstream republicans. do they stick with the president and go to doug jones? very difficult math for doug jones. given the special circumstances of the race, not impossible. >> you will be busy with that map tonight. we will get to know the state of alabama a lot closer. john king reporting for us. thanks very much. up next, i will speak live with the secretary of state and the turn out whether any issues are

erupting in the voting. after weeks of criticizing robert mueller, the legal team is now demanding a special prosecutor and you will hear why. jimmy kimmel making an emotional plea over health care while holding his son who just had a second heart surgery. you will hear his words and his message to congress. with 5 times more ethnic regions... ancestrydna can pinpoint where your ancestors are from... and the paths they took to a new home. could their journey inspire yours? order your kit at ancestrydna.com

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tough battle. the august primary only 18% showed up and the republican run off it was just 14%. that's compared to 62% who showed up last november when the state chose donald trump as the winner. joining us now is the alabama secretary of state john merrill. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for allowing me to be your guest. >> what are kind of turn out are you expecting? voting started several hours ago. >> reporter: it did. we anticipate about 25% of the electorate participating. we have 3,328,117 voters. that means 835,000 people may be participating if we reach 25% threshold. >> that are would be the goal in the august primary. there are 250,000 more republican votes than democrats.

how does this break down. republican versus democrat registered voters? >> reporter: we don't have party registration, wolf. what we have is party participation and one of the things that continued to happen over the last few years, there is more and more republicans voting in the primary process and fewer and fewer democrats voting in the primary process. as a matter of fact and i know you know this because you always do your homework, but judge roy moore received more votes in the republican primary than all the democrats combined in that process. it will be interesting to see where the votes come from today and exactly who chooses to participate. >> what do you say to the critics and there are a lot of them who say that alabama republican state that officials made it too hard for people to vote and they are trying to tamp down voter turn out. what's your response? >> reporter: well, wolf, people

are entitleded to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts. the facts are since january 19, 2015 when i became secretary of state, we registered many new voters in alabama since that time. wolf, that's an impressive and unparalleled in the history of our state and no other state can catch per capita. we made a dedicated effort to make sure every resident of alabama is registered to vote with a photo id. we want to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat in alabama. >> what kind of photo id do they need to vote? forget about registering, but to actually vote? >> we have approximately 10 different items that are available to be used as identification when one goes to the poll. most people, 90% plus use their alabama driver's license.

you can use the id card, the voter id card that we provide for free to all residents who would like to have one. government-issued ids whether it's i work or a hospital id if you work at a public hospital or university or college or some type of school system. if you have a tribal id or a military id, all of those equalify and it's not too late to get your id today to still vote if you don't have one. >> as you know, the senior senator richard shelby is a republican and said he did not vote for roy moore absentee balloting before the polls opened today. you are a republican and a state official. you can tell us who you voted for? >> wolf, i voted several weeks ago and i voted for judge moore as the republican in the election. >> so let's see what happens in the course of today. what's your prediction?

>> reporter: well, i anticipate a strong turn out and i think the alabamians that participated today had a lot of time to evaluate the information that has been prohibited to them and when their voice is heard it will be loud and clear. it may not be understood by the people throughout the nation, but it will be understood by the people in alabama. >> the accusations against judge moore by the women that came forward that he was in his 30s and they were 14, 15, 16, 17 years old and they made allegations, that didn't bother you? >> oh, wolf, there are a number of things that bothered me and concern me and continue to concern me. a number of them continue to introduce to me each and every day. i know that i am just one of 4.8 million other alabamians who will be very thankful when this day is over.

>> that didn't bother you enough to decide he was not fit to be the u.s. senator? >> wolf, i know that you know this and you and i had this conversation on and off the air, but this election is not about me. it's about doug mooroy moore an jones and people having their voice heard and vote counted. we want safe, secure, fair elections and everybody gets to vote just one time. >> just one final question, to get back to the accusations, do you believe all these women in alabama who have come forward and suggesting and said flatly that he did all sorts of sexually inappropriate things with them when he was in his 30s and they were teenage girls? >> wolf, it's not up for me to decide whether they are telling the truth or not. it's only up to me and other alabamians to determine who they

want to support for this u.s. senate seat and cast their ballots for the candidates. pars>> secretary of state of ala and we will have coverage and once the polls close at 8:00 p.m. eastern. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> breaking today, the suspect in the bombing near times square taunted president trump on facebook the morning of the attack. you will see his words and i will speak live on whether he thinks president trump should resign over assault allegations. what he thinks of the president's rather suggestive tweet regarding senator kirstin gillibrand. we know life can be hectic.

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>> the man accused of setting off a bomb is charged with five counts of providing support to a terrorist organization. using a weapon of mass destruction and am boing a place of public use. police found bomb-making materials and more in the suspect's home. >> officers also found a passport there in his name. with handwriting that included one particularly chilling note. i quote, oh, america, die in your rage. although in plotting his attack, he hoped to die in his own misguided rage taking as many

innocent people as he could with him, but through incredibly good fortune, his bomb did not injury anyone. >> let's go to our correspondent in new york. we understand the suspect did declare the support for isis and he said i did it for the islamic state. what more can you tell us about the motives and what this guy was all about? >> yeah, wolf. he said that after he waived his miranda rights and talked to investigators. another point where he said that was in a social media post just before he carried out this attack yesterday according to the court documents. he talked about how he did this again for isis. he also posted a note, a message possibly for the president. he said trump, you failed to protect your nation. that was another post he added before carrying out this attack.

as far as his allegiance, we learned he had a displeasure with the isis targets overseas and how muslims are being treated all-around the world. also he talked about how he was radicalized in 2014. that was all about watching videos and getting inspiration. that seems to be the basis of his radicalization more so than traveling over to isis territories before carrying out this attack, wolf. >> very interesting charging do you means indeed. we will learn a lot more about this man in the coming hours and days. thank you very, very much. president trump's lawyers demanding an investigation with russia. you can hear the reasons and what this means for the fate of robert mueller. jimmy kimmel making a very emotional plea child holding his son who just had a second heart surgery and his warning to congress. >> he is fine, everybody. she's nationally recognized

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an emotional jimmy kimmel returned to late night with a special guest. his son billy went through his second heart surgery last week and he choked up when thankingly doctors and made a special plea for health care funding, specifically the children's health insurance program known as chip that just ran out of federal funding. it's for parents who make too much for madeicate and not enough to afford private coverage. >> this is a and death program for american kids. it always had bipartisan support, but this year they let the money expire while they work on getting tax cuts for the millionaire and billionaire

dono donors. imagine getting that letter not knowing how you can afford to save your child's life. there is not a hypothetical. two million chip kids have serious conditions. i have had enough of this. >> they passed a temporary patch through the end of the year. some say their benefits may end in the coming months. we will see what happens on this front. other news we're following, the dl team is demanding that a second counsel be a pointed to look into questions surrounding the russia investigation. a private lawyer said the additional counsel is needed to investigate conflicts of justice and the fbi. the concerns include the recent demotion of a senior justice department official who reportedly failed to disclose meetings with people behind that so-called trump doszner.

joining us is joaquin castro from texas and on the republican house committee. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> what's your reaction to the idea that the president's lawyers are demanding a second special counsel. >> i think the president is basically apparently trying to do one of two things. he is either trying to get around robert mueller and his investigation or somehow threaten robert mueller in the investigation or he is continuing to lay the ground work to get rid of bob mueller as the special counsel investigating any ties that the president or his associates may have had with russian operatives who undermined the 2016 presidential election. >> what are would happen if he fired robert mueller and the special counsel some. >> you would see a lot more support for impeachment. >> on the basis of what? >> obstruction of justice. the fact that he is obstructing this investigation which he knows could reach the highest levels of his former campaign

team and quite possibly those who are working in his white house. >> do you believe he would fire robert mueller? >> i think it's quite possible. i would say with this president anything is possible. >> let's get to other issues while i have you, congressman. the president has been tweeting as you know about the colleague and kirstin jill brand who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago and he put in parentheses, and would do anything for them, closed parentheses. what do you think the president of the united states was implying with those words involving the democratic senator from new york? >> we have seen this from president trump over and over. it is the president really saying things beneath the dignity of the office of the president of the united states. he is trying to bully the senator and she stood up and said she would not be silenced

like the women who came forward and talked about their experiences with president trump. they will not be silenced. this was certainly a very ugly statement. a statement made with certain innuendos that has been mentioned before this morning. unfortunately the president keeps doing this and it's what the american people have come to expect from president trump. it's the reason that he only has a 32% approval rating among the american people. >> he was asked this morning what he meant by the words and would do anything for them, referring to senator gillibrand. there will be a briefing later in the day. do you think that was a sexist comment? >> absolutely. this guy is basically like a seventh grader. like a middle schooler. that's where his mentality is stuck and you see that in his

words and tweets. >> the house minority leader said he she is backing a call to investigate the president over sexual harassment allegations. she stopped short of saying he should resign. other democrats are already calling on the president to resign. do you believe the president should resign over these allegations? >> yes. >> you are saying yes? >> yes. >> tell us why. >> i believe that now more than a dozen women have come forward with very detailed allegations about how they were treated by the president of the united states. he has not been held to account even though he personally made remarks that suggested he engaged in this behavior and that is unbecoming for the president of the united states to have a long history having done this and not be held accountable at all. for the sake of the nation, he should resign. >> one other issue i top the get to. you are on the intelligence

committee. i assume you have been briefed on the investigation into the terror attack near times square yesterday. what can you share with the viewers about the suspect? >> i actually can't give you any special information. i have not had a briefing on that and perhaps the ranking member and the chair have, but when make sure they get it right. >> what's your reaction to the president saying this terror attack in new york under scores the need to end any sort of lottery that would allow people to come to the united states from various countries? and also end what he calls chain migration. in other words, if you are already here legally, you could bring in close relatives legally through chain migration. what's your response to the president on those two sensitive immigration issues? >> well, i think the president wants to prevent even legal

immigrants here, folks that have become citizens, for example, but have kids or other relatives in another country, close relatives in another country, he wants to prevent them from bringing those folks over. it is true, you'll have people who commit bad acts, but that's not something particular to someone nationality or skin color or religion. we have seen bad acts committed by people born overseas and also of course by folks native born americans. the man killed 59 people in las vegas was an american citizen who was not affiliated with isis or not inspired by isis or was not a muslim or anything that the president likes to point out when these things happen. same thing in texas. so i think the president's focus is wrong. i think our focus should be on figuring out people radicalized for whatever reason, whether it's because of a religious or ethnic belief that makes them or

inspires them to commit these wild acts. but i think his focus is totally wrong. and it seems to me that he's basically looking for every reason and every excuse to try to keep as many people out of this country as possible. >> congressman castro, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> secretary of state rex tillerson holding a towel haul at the state department amid low moral and complaints about his leadership. you'll hear what he said about the threat from north korea.

the military plan is ready to go.

that's what the u.s. sent of state rex tillerson said about north korea during a state department town hall. walk us through what else he said. >> reporter: so a perfect fu opportunity for him to put the perfect face and insert some objectivity. this question about if he's satisfied came in somebody from an overseas post. that question would have been easy for him and understandable for him to answer with a no, there is more we can do. but he said he is quite satisfied with how things are going on north korea. and he said that when diplomatic options run out, that's when he will feel like he has failed. he did pay heed to that military option saying that if north korea makes bad choices, then the u.s. will be prepared to act, but that is not a path that he wants to take.

so he's been throughout his time in office a kind of foil to president trump, that every time there is this mention of military action or possibility of that coming from the white house, he's been the one to say, no, no, we are focused on diplomacy, although he says there is a time when diplomacy could run out and left that open-ended. and when his new assistant for public diplomacy today was asked the same question, why does he feel like things are going okay on the diplomacy front with north korea of all issues, at the said, well, he feels like it's a success that he's been able to gain international support for trying to choke north korea off. they have been able to ban about 90% of north korea's exports that they are having trouble getting oil. and even though that takes a lot of time, the statement department feels under tillerson that is a good start, wolf. >> very quickly, what did he say

about his future at the state department? >> i felt like everyone was waiting for that to come up baurks he's been criticized by so many in washington. and just yesterday a letter came out from a very honored and respected diplomate leaving and wrote a scathing letter about him. so today he said does he enjoy his job. he said he's working on enjoying it, but acknowledged it is difficult. what he said lately how is he intends to stick with it and committed to the state department. and he often throws in there though that he serves at the pleasure of the president, wolf. >> yes, he does. all right, michelle, thanks very much kazinsky reporting. >> the president firing back and now being accused of that. and we'll have details with that when we come back.

hi there i'm brooke baldwin you are watching cnn thanks for being with me. calls for the president to be investigated are growing. we just learned that about 100 democrat lawmakers are now demachineding that congress take action after multiple women have renewed their sexual misconduct allegations against the president of the united states. but snoenator gillibrand along with other senators say he should resign. trump is attacking gillibrand directly calling him an flunky. but here's how she responds. >> it was an attempt to silence me. i'll not be