A petition calling for Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to be removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee has garnered more than 40,000 signatures.

Women's advocacy group UltraViolet launched the petition in the wake of the release of a lurid 2005 video in which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump makes sexually aggressive comments about women. After the tape was released, Sessions, an outspoken supporter of Trump, was quoted by the Weekly Standard as saying he didn't characterize grabbing a woman's genitals as sexual assault.

Sessions later issued a statement saying the printed comments were "completely inaccurate."

"My hesitation was based solely on confusion of the contents of the 2005 tape and the hypothetical posed by the reporter, which was asked in a chaotic post-debate environment," Sessions said. "I regret that it resulted in an inaccurate article that misrepresented my views. Of course it is crystal clear that assault is unacceptable. I would never intentionally suggest otherwise."

Petition calls for Sessions' removal

The UltraViolet petition calls for Sessions, a former federal prosecutor and Alabama Attorney General, to be removed from the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.

"One of Trump's biggest allies doesn't think grabbing a woman by the genitals without consent is sexual assault. What's worse: He's in charge of making laws that govern sexual assault. No wonder our legal system so often fails rape survivors," the petition notes.

"We cannot have men like this deciding judicial nominations and laws governing sexual assault."

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, the petition had 40,916 signatures.

Sen. Sessions office said it had no comment on the petition.

The petition is directed to the Senate Committee on Committees, the group that appoints lawmakers to individual groups. Sessions is a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, serving as chairman of its Immigration and National Interest Subcommittee. He also serves on the Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts and the Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism