A top lawyer for the Texas attorney general resigns after calling #MeToo claims 'pathetic'
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A top aide to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton resigned Thursday after criticizing the #MeToo movement on Facebook.
Associate Deputy Attorney General Andrew Leonie resigned “effective immediately,” according to a spokesman for Paxton’s office. The New York Times, the Associated Press, the Texas Tribune and the Dallas Morning News have stories.
Leonie has removed his Facebook post criticizing women who have come forward with claims of sexual misconduct. He had written: “Aren’t you also tired of all the pathetic ‘me too’ victim claims? If every woman is a ‘victim,’ so is every man. If everyone is a victim, no one is. Victim means nothing anymore.”
The post had linked to a Federalist article, written by a woman, that argued women “love the sexual interplay they experience with men.”
Marc Rylander, the director of communications for Paxton, said in a statement that the views Leonie expressed “do not reflect our values. The OAG is committed to promoting and maintaining a workplace that is free from discrimination and harassment.”
Updated at 1:50 p.m. to fix typo in last paragraph.
