--- title: Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump Allegations Should Be Probed description: Hillary Clinton called for more investigation into sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump. "We can't excuse the president" canonical: https://time.com/5030586/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-sexual-assault/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-18T15:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:08.667Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Wants Trump Held Accountable og:description: "The president should not be excused from this debate" og:url: https://time.com/5030586/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-sexual-assault/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595a04d05ba1b703/6988e6674ee26287a230fd66/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4978 og:image:height: 2800 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton: Live - Atlanta, Georgia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Wants Trump Held Accountable twitter:description: "The president should not be excused from this debate" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595a04d05ba1b703/6988e6674ee26287a230fd66/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton: 'Very Credible' Sexual Assault Allegations Against Donald Trump Should Be Investigated > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Eight Women Accuse Sen Al. Franken Of Sexual Misconduct [Watch (HLS stream): Eight Women Accuse Sen Al. Franken Of Sexual Misconduct](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fsKRenSb.m3u8) (2:31)  _Published 2017-11-16. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said he expects Sen. Al Franken to resign on Thursday as at least 23 of the Minnesota Democrat’s colleagues called for him to step down._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 18, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks onstage during the tour for her new book 'What Happened' in Atlanta, Georgia. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks onstage during the tour for her new book 'What Happened' in Atlanta, Georgia. Paras Griffin—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 18, 2017 3:00 PM UTC Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for more investigation into [sexual assault allegations brought against President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4534948/donald-trump-sexual-assault-protest/), equating them with [those leveled against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore](http://time.com/5029172/roy-moore-accusers/). “We have a man who’s accused of sexual assault sitting in the Oval Office, don’t we? The very credible accusations against him have not been taken seriously,” Clinton said [during an interview with 77 WABC Radio’s Rita Cosby](http://www.wabcradio.com/2017/11/17/hillary-clinton-exclusive-with-rita-cosby-discusses-roy-moore-al-franken-kirsten-gillibrand-president-trump-her-husbands-past-behavior-tax-reform-and-uranium-one/). “We can’t excuse the president from this debate.” Later, Clinton added that Trump “has disgraced the office.” During the interview, Clinton also praised the way Sen. Al Franken dealt with [sexual misconduct allegations recently brought against him](http://time.com/5027604/leeann-tweeden-al-franken-sexual-misconduct-harassment-congress/), saying his actions provide a model for men like Trump and Moore. “Al’s very quick acceptance of responsibility and apology and his willingness to be investigated and to take the consequences is the kind of accountability I’m talking about,” she said. “I don’t hear that from Roy Moore or Donald Trump, do you?” Clinton also addressed her husband’s checkered past — which includes [a series of sexual assault allegations in the late 1990s](http://time.com/4530968/bill-clinton-accusers-tell-their-stories-to-sean-hannity/), some of which Clinton publicly denied — after being pressed by Cosby, standing by the investigation into his actions. “I think every situation has to be judged on its own merit,” she said. “You should give the people who make such allegations the benefit of the doubt, that’s what our system does, but then you have to investigate them, and that’s what happened in the late ’90s.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5030586/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-sexual-assault/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5030586/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-sexual-assault/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton: 'Very Credible' Sexual Assault Allegations Against Donald Trump Should Be Investigated","datePublished":"2017-11-18T15:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:08.667Z","description":"\"We have a man who's accused of sexual assault sitting in the Oval Office, don't we?\" Clinton said","url":"https://time.com/5030586/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-sexual-assault/","keywords":["hillary clinton","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595a04d05ba1b703/6988e6674ee26287a230fd66/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt595a04d05ba1b703/6988e6674ee26287a230fd66/hillary-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton: Live - Atlanta, Georgia","caption":"Hillary Clinton: Live - Atlanta, Georgia","creditText":"Paras Griffin—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/hillary-clinton-2/","name":"hillary clinton"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5030586/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-sexual-assault/","name":"Hillary Clinton: 'Very Credible' Sexual Assault Allegations Against Donald Trump Should Be Investigated"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Eight Women Accuse Sen Al. 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