Less than three hours after The New Yorker published an article accusing New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of physically abusing four women, the prominent champion of women’s rights during the #MeToo movement announced his resignation. Although Schneiderman helped lead the resistance against President Trump’s policies and fraudulent universities, the disgraced attorney general has ironically fallen faster than notorious film mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was targeted by Schneiderman’s office.
According to The New Yorker, at least four women have accused Schneiderman of physically assaulting them while drunk in bed. Besides choking and slapping the women without their consent, Schneiderman also allegedly threatened them if they attempted to leave him or speak out against him.
In a statement, Schneiderman said, “In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.”
After dating Schneiderman for several weeks in 2013, Manning Barish recalled getting in bed with the attorney general when he suddenly slapped her across the ear before choking her.
“I want to make it absolutely clear,” Barish told The New Yorker. “This was under no circumstances a sex game gone wrong. This did not happen while we were having sex. I was fully dressed and remained that way. It was completely unexpected and shocking. I did not consent to physical assault.”
“She called me and told me he had hit her,” recalled novelist Salman Rushdie, who dated Manning Barish before Schneiderman did. “She was obviously very upset. I was horrified.”
According to Barish’s medical records, her doctor later found and removed “dried bloody crust” from her ear. Barish also accused Schneiderman of taking her prescribed Xanax pills for recreational use with alcohol and threatening to kill her if she left.
A second woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said Schneiderman had slapped her across the face so hard that it left a red mark. She reportedly took a photo of the injury and showed it to her friends.
A third woman, Tanya Selvaratnam asserted that Schneiderman repeatedly slapped her and spat on her during sex without her consent.
“The slaps started after we’d gotten to know each other,” she recalled. “It was at first as if he were testing me. Then it got stronger and harder. It wasn’t consensual. This wasn’t sexual playacting. This was abusive, demeaning, threatening behavior.”
Selvaratnam added, “I was scared what he might do if I left him. He had said he would have to kill me if we broke up, on multiple occasions. He also told me he could have me followed and could tap my phone.”
Although Schneiderman denied the allegations of physical abuse, he immediately resigned within hours of the article’s publication. Barbara Underwood has been appointed acting New York attorney general in his absence.
“It’s been my great honor and privilege to serve as Attorney General for the people of the State of New York,” Schneiderman wrote in a statement on Monday. “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. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.”
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