Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., responded to criticism by a top aide to Hillary Clinton, maintaining he was "wrong" to call her a "hypocrite" for saying former President Bill Clinton should have stepped down over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, the Washington Examiner reported Friday.
The verbal back-and-forth comes as the issue of sexual harassment has recently included lawmakers of both parties charged with making unwanted sexual advances toward women.
Philippe Reines, an adviser to Hillary Clinton when she served as secretary of state, blasted Gillibrand on Twitter Thursday, pointing out she for years had been the beneficiary of support by the Clintons.
Reines tweeted:
"It's ridiculous and he's wrong. Bill Clinton did very important things for this country," Gillibrand said in an interview on MSNBC that will be aired in a podcast Saturday.
"But my point is about this conversation we are having today and that we need to have the highest standards for elected leaders and we have to change what is happening throughout society and we have to allow people to tell their stories. That is what this is all about and that is why the #MeToo campaign is as powerful as it is and is as important as it is," she added.
Gillibrand holds the Senate seat formerly held by Hillary Clinton and is one of the most high-profile elected Democrats yet to say the former president should have resigned over the scandal.
When asked on Thursday if Clinton should have stepped down as president over his relationship with Lewinsky, Gillibrand paused and said, "Yes, I think that is the appropriate response," The New York Times reported Thursday.