Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently expressed doubts about some of the most high-profile #MeToo allegations, but that is not stopping one of the largest pro-abortion political action committees in the country from having him speak at a fundraiser.
EMILY's List helps elect pro-choice female Democrats to office, and the group announced Thursday that its large September fundraiser will feature Bloomberg, the billionaire who made headlines earlier this week for his defense of accused sexual harasser Charlie Rose. For years, Rose's show was recorded at the Bloomberg Media offices.
Rose lost his contract with PBS and CBS News when he faced a slew of accusations that he groped women and tried to coerce women with whom he worked into sex. Bloomberg Media also dropped its deal to rebroadcast episodes of "Charlie Rose," but the former mayor told the New York Times in an interview that he has not seen any evidence of wrongdoing by Rose.
"The stuff I read about is disgraceful—I don't know how true all of it is," Bloomberg said of the #MeToo movement.
"We never had a complaint [about Rose], whatsoever, and when I read some of the stuff, I was surprised, I will say," Bloomberg continued. "But I never saw anything and we have no record, we've checked very carefully."
"You know, is it true?" Bloomberg asked of the allegations. "You look at people that say it is, but we have a system where you have—presumption of innocence is the basis of it."
EMILY's List has taken a different approach to #MeToo allegations than Bloomberg. In a piece that EMILY's List published, Rep. Annie Kuster (D., N.H.) praised how the movement has affected alleged abusers, including TV personalities.
"The powerful can no longer hide from the collective voice of survivors everywhere. Executives, actors, producers, politicians, and TV personalities are answering for their abuses," Kuster wrote.
EMILY's List has primarily focused on abortion rights, however, and on that issue Bloomberg has been a staunch champion. Even when he held office as a Republican, Bloomberg, now an independent, held pro-choice views and did not support pro-life politicians, such as Mitt Romney.
The group's leaders are no doubt hoping the New York billionaire can help them reach their ambitious fundraising goals for 2018. In this year's midterm elections, EMILY's List intends to eclipse its total spending in the 2016 election.
Bloomberg has floated the idea of running for president in 2020 as a centrist Democrat.