New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has resigned from office, just hours after four women came forward in The New Yorker that he was physically violent toward them.
Both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand urged him to step down.
“In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me," said Schneiderman in a statement.
"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.”
The New Yorker documented the former Attorney General’s encounters with the four women, who say Schneiderman repeatedly berated their appearance, hit them, and in on case choked them, after he had been drinking, and that two of the women had to seek medical attention.
One says the he threatened to kill her if she broke up with him.
Schneiderman has long been a supporter of women’s rights, and he spoke out frequently against other allegations of sexual assault in recent months, and the #MeToo movement exploded. The Attorney General was suing the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein.
A successor has not yet been named.