Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) is so far the only Democratic representative brave enough to demand Rep. John Conyers's (D-MI) resign over sexual assault allegations. There is some compelling evidence to convict him - documents show he paid a former staffer $27,000 to keep quiet about the supposed incidents - but he denies it, arguing his office only paid her to avoid a court battle.
Some Democrats have called for House Ethics Committee investigations into the Conyers matter. Rice at first supported the effort, but on Friday she told CNN's Chris Cuomo that that's not enough.
"No offense," she told her colleagues, but their efforts are not going to result in any real accountability.
Rep. Kathleen Rice says the congressional ethics committees being proposed as a way to investigate serial sexual assault offenders on Capitol Hill are "not real" and "not accountable" https://t.co/9pgJl3C2Lc pic.twitter.com/yYqqrUTI6D
— CNN (@CNN) November 24, 2017
"Saying that we're going to have these allegations against politicians go before an ethics committee that can sometimes take a couple of years - no offense to my colleagues who are on the ethics committee - but that's not real and that's not accountability," she said.
A career prosecutor, Rice was adamant Conyers needs to be held accountable.
"Enough is enough," Rice said. Why are the rules for politicians in Washington different than they are for anyone else?"
Another Democrat, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), did not go so far as to say Conyers should resign from Congress, but did express his opinion that the latter should step down as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
More women have since come forward to share disturbing details about Conyers's past behavior.