In the fall of 2016, well before revelations about bad men who abused their power to sexually harass women—or worse—became a fixture of daily headlines, more than a dozen women came forward to share horrifying stories of misconduct committed against them by then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. And while the accusations had no impact on the outcome of the presidential election, at least some folks in the Trump administration seem acutely aware that those stories might be received differently if they were told for the first time today—and are working hard to discredit them all over again before the #MeToo movement reaches the White House.

This morning, three of the accusers appeared on Megyn Kelly Today to tell the American people—again—exactly what their president did to them. “We’re private citizens, and for us to put ourselves out there to try to show America who this man is, and especially how he views women, and for them to say, ‘We don’t care,’ It hurt,” sad Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant who recounted Trump entering dressing rooms and leering at pageant participants. “Now, it’s just like, 'Alright, let’s try round two. The environment is different. Let’s try again.'" Next to Holvey was Rachel Crooks, who described Trump kissing her repeatedly on the lips when she worked at Trump Tower, and Jessica Leeds, who alleged that Trump assaulted her on an airplane when they were seated next to each other—and that, when he ran into her years later, he called her a c---.

Hours later, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand joined senators Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, and Cory Booker in formally calling for Trump to resign based on the sexual misconduct accusations. While a handful of Democrats wanting this president out of the Oval Office isn't exactly shocking news, the timing of Gillibrand's announcement, directly on the heels of Kelly's segment, was probably not a coincidence.

On the air, Kelly read a prepared response in which the administration labeled the stories as "false claims" and components of a politically-motivated "publicity tour." They were "totally disputed in most cases by eyewitness accounts," the White House added, ignoring both the fact that it has named only one alleged eyewitness since the allegations came to light, and also the obvious implication that some of the stories have not been disputed by eyewitness accounts. "The American people voiced their judgment by delivering a decisive victory." At her daily briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders doubled down on this line of, um, reasoning, such as it is.