Washington, February 3 (RHC)-- Fifty U.S. congresswomen have penned a scathing letter to Donald Trump, lambasting the Republican president for his "continuing derogation of women" in both rhetoric and policy. "It is most shameful that the words young girls and boys hear directed at women from the upper echelons of power are dripping with disdain and disrespect," read the letter released in Washington.
Among those who signed the letter were co-chairs of the Democratic Women's Caucus, Representatives Lois Frankel, Brenda L. Lawrence and Jackie Speier.
"Beyond your public policy choices -- stripping away women's access to health care, undermining protections for survivors of sexual assault, reversing equal pay efforts and more -- your words demonstrate a contempt for women who dare to do their jobs or speak truth to power which reflects poorly on you," the leader said.
The women lawmakers further accused the president of relishing any opportunity he could find to “publicly humiliate any woman who fights back, speaks up, or takes up space.” Trump’s alleged mistreatment of Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was dismissed amid the unfolding impeachment, was especially mentioned in the letter.
"After imploring your associates to 'take her out,'" the letter read, "you smeared her good name and career for your personal benefit." Video released last month showed Trump ordering his associates at a 2018 dinner party to dismiss Yovanovitch after Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, told him that the ambassador had been talking about him behind his back. "Get rid of her!" Trump said back then. "Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."
Yovanovitch testified during the House impeachment hearings that she was the victim of a “smear campaign” by President Trump and his aides.
The letter also noted the president’s response to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after he bullied NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly during a radio interview last month. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lost his temper and cursed at a female journalist after she questioned him on the administration. "Asking a woman with a master's degree in European Studies from the University of Cambridge to identify Ukraine on a blank map would be laughable were it not so insulting," the letter to Trump read. "And your response -- validating this misogyny with a 'good job' and a pat on the back -- says it all."
"Mr. President, instead of being the biggest bully on the playground, why don't you set a moral example for our children?" the lawmakers asked.
