New York AG Resigns Over Abuse Allegations
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NEW YORK (CBSMiami) - New York's Attorney General has resigned following accusations of physical abuse from four women.
The case against Eric Schneiderman was detailed in The New Yorker magazine.
During his professional career, Schneiderman positioned himself as an advocate of the "me too" movement. He has denied allegations from the women who claim he repeatedly hit and choked them, usually after consuming large amounts of alcohol. Two of the women who were romantically involved with Schneiderman have publicly identified themselves and said he threatened to kill them if they left him.
One accuser, Michelle Manning Barish, said one time "He just slapped me, open-handed and with great force, across the face. He then used his body weight to hold me down and he began to choke me."
Another woman, Tanya Selvaratnam, claims Schneiderman would slap her, choke her, and spit at her.
Neither woman filed a police complaint but did seek medical attention.
The accusations published by The New Yorker were followed by calls for Schneiderman to resign and three hours later, he did, issuing this statement:
"In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me. While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time."
During his nearly eight years as New York's highest ranking law-enforcement officer, Schneiderman has filed suit to protect immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. In February, his office sued the Weinstein Company, demanding greater compensation for alleged victims of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo has called for an investigation.
Schneiderman, in his statement, repeatedly denied assaulting anyone, but went on to say he did engage in consensual, role-playing sexual activity.
The women deny the violence was sexual role-playing or consensual. The New York legislature will vote on a new attorney general to fill the vacancy left by Schneiderman's resignation.
