Pelosi ‘sure as hell’ won’t decide resignation, Conyers lawyer says The embattled congressman, hospitalized and facing several claims of sexual harassment, resists calls to step down.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has not decided whether to resign, his lawyer said Thursday, despite calls from congressional leaders to step down amid several allegations of sexual harassment.

“Nancy Pelosi did not elect the congressman, and she sure as hell won’t be the one to tell the congressman to leave,” said Conyers’ attorney, Arnold Reed, referring to the House minority leader. Conyers, 88, was hospitalized after suffering chest pains and dizziness Wednesday night.


Reed also suggested that the calls for Conyers’ resignation are racially motivated.

“I would suspect that Nancy Pelosi is going to have to explain what is the discernible difference between [Sen.] Al Franken and John Conyers,” Reed said. Franken (D-Minn.) is also facing multiple sexual harassment allegations.

The comments came shortly after Pelosi and Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking African-American lawmaker in Congress and a key ally of Conyers, called on the congressman to leave his job.

"I pray for Congressman Conyers and his family and wish them well," Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters. "However, Congressman Conyers should resign."

Clyburn also urged Conyers to step down.

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"I think he should do for his constituents what he did for his colleagues," Clyburn told reporters, referring to Conyers' decision to relinquish his post as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee. "I told him [resigning from Congress] would be in his best interest."

Clyburn, however, is concerned Conyers may try to stay in office after hearing from family members and supporters back in Detroit encouraging him not to step aside.

"I have been talking to John. ... I thought he was in a good place. I thought he understood what was going on," Clyburn added. "I have come to the conclusion there's a force that I can't handle. I have no idea who or what it is."

Clyburn's comments may be even a more serious blow politically to Conyers. If he loses the public backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, he will have little support within the House Democratic Caucus.

Speaker Paul Ryan joined the chorus of top House members calling for Conyers to step down.

“I think he should resign,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “I think he should resign immediately.”

Conyers left Washington on Tuesday following a meeting with CBC members about his future. He has been hospitalized in Detroit with stress-related problems, according to Detroit TV stations.

Reed, Conyers' lawyer, said the congressman has not decided whether he will resign. Reed said the decision is up to Conyers and his constituents.

"John Conyers is having serious health problems; he was admitted last night, and that’s what we’re focusing on. This is real life, not politics," Reed said in an interview.

"John Conyers and the people who elected him will make the decision whether he steps down, not Nancy Pelosi."

Pelosi is the most high-profile Democrat to call on Conyers to step down from Congress and follows a week of private negotiations to push out the longtime lawmaker. Democratic leaders had hoped Conyers would willingly resign, but the situation became tenuous after he abruptly flew back to Detroit after the meeting with CBC members.

Conyers is the longest-serving member of the House — in office since 1965 — and a founding member of the CBC. Democratic leaders were hesitant to call for his resignation after sexual assault allegations first surfaced last week but have faced increasing internal and public pressure to take a stronger stance as more accusations of harassment against Conyers have come out.

To date, four women have accused Conyers of harassing them — three former aides who say he made repeated and unwanted sexual advances toward them and a fourth former staffer who said he verbally abused her. Conyers has denied all the allegations.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have struggled with how to respond to the allegations facing Conyers, who has the informal title of "dean of the House," given his long tenure. Initially, Democratic leaders called for the House Ethics Committee to look into the allegations and said they would withhold judgment until the probe was finished.

But Pelosi faced further scrutiny after a widely panned interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, when she said Conyers was an "icon" who "has done a great deal to protect women." Pelosi also would not answer directly whether she believed Conyers' accusers.

Pelosi went into clean-up mode shortly after her TV appearance. Conyers abruptly put out a statement announcing he was stepping down as ranking member of the Judiciary Committee on Sunday, and Pelosi quickly put out a statement endorsing the move.

Then on Monday, Pelosi released a statement saying she had met with one of Conyers' accusers — Melanie Sloan, an ethics lawyer and former Conyers staffer who said he repeatedly verbally abused her — and believed Sloan's claims.

"The allegations against Congressman Conyers, as we have learned more since Sunday, are serious, disappointing and very credible. It’s very sad," Pelosi said Thursday. "The brave women who came forward are owed justice."

Behind the scenes, Pelosi has been working with Clyburn, CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) and other prominent black lawmakers on pushing Conyers' resignation.

Conyers lawyer: Pelosi 'sure as hell' won't get Conyers to resign

Clyburn, Richmond and others who met with Conyers on Tuesday afternoon did not directly ask him to resign but made the case for why he might step aside, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting.

But privately the CBC has been embroiled in its own drama over how to approach the accusations against its founding member, who has long been revered for his work to advance the civil rights movement, both in and out of Congress.

The CBC has been divided on whether to call for Conyers' resignation, with some members saying he's being unfairly targeted because of his race. Those members point to Franken, who also faces multiple sexual harassment allegations but hasn't received the same internal pressure to step down.

Reed said Pelosi should explain why she has called for Conyers' resignation while not doing the same for Franken. Two more women came forward on Thursday to accuse Franken of groping them.

"I suppose she’ll be able to explain the discernible difference between Al Franken and John Conyers," Reed said. And "she’ll have to explain why it is that she made these moves in terms of calling for resignation when she looked bad in front of the media on 'Meet the Press,'" he added.