Trump accidentally pressures Congress to investigate him by lying about his accusers

Demolishing White House press secretary Sarah Sanders’ attempt on Monday to “move on” from the burgeoning sexual misconduct scandal that surrounds Donald Trump, the president himself on Tuesday morning added more fuel to that raging fire by calling out his accusers as liars on Twitter:

Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia – so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017

As many were quick to point out, Trump’s insistence that he never met any of the women accusing him is an absurd lie. Washington Post political reporter Jenna Johnson noted that the list of accusers “includes a former business partner, a contestant in one of his beauty pageants, a reporter who interviewed him and an Apprentice contestant.”

Not only does Trump’s impulsive, angry move guarantee that the women and their allegations will garner more attention in coming days, but it also increases the pressure on Congress to launch a formal investigation into the myriad of allegations about predator behavior made against Trump.

On Monday, three women who say they were sexually harassed or assaulted by Trump in the past held a press conference and demanded that Congress investigate their charges.

This comes as more and more Democrats are calling on Trump to resign, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), whose demand prompted a nasty, vengeful tweet from Trump:

Lightweight Senator Kirsten 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 now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017

On Tuesday, every Democratic female member of Congress will call on the House Oversight Committee to launch a probe into Trump’s misconduct.

Those calls for accountability come on the same day that Trump’s preferred candidate in the Alabama Senate race tries to secure a win with the full backing of the Republican party — despite being credibly accused of molesting young girls.

On Monday, the White House tried to advance two separate strategies to head off the growing scandal. The first, as articulated by Sanders, was that the allegations of Trump being a sexual predator were old news and were aired last year, therefore everybody should “move on.”

But Trump’s tweet on Tuesday completely undermines that and all but demands that the accusers publicly defend themselves against charges that they’re peddling “fake news.”

Secondly, the White House ridiculously tried to claim that “eyewitnesses” to all the allegations of misconduct against Trump had previously debunked the claims against him.

That is just completely false. But by doubling down on the claim on Tuesday, Trump is putting more pressure on the White House to produce this mysterious list of “eyewitnesses.”

All this back and forth sparked by Trump solidifies the Democratic demand that Congress launch an investigation, take testimony from the accusers, and let Americans decide the truth.