NEW YORK -- The Manhattan District Attorney's office is investigating allegations of violence against women by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who resigned just hours after accounts of abuse by four women. It was a swift and stunning fall for a Democrat who held himself out as a champion of women and a liberal foil to President Trump and who pledged to use his office to hold others accountable for abusing their power.
The women described being slapped and choked, verbally abused and threatened by Schneiderman. Some also described him as a heavy drinker.
The abuse often happened during what were supposed to be romantic encounters, but the women said the violence was not consensual.
Schneiderman, 63, implied in a statement that his conduct was either welcomed by the women, or was not as they described.
"In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in non-consensual sex, which is a line I would not cross," he said.
Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said in a statement late Monday that prosecutors would look into the claims.
It's an unusual twist: Schneiderman's office had been tasked with investigating the Manhattan District Attorney's office over its handling of a 2015 sex assault probe involving Harvey Weinstein that resulted in no criminal charges.
The NYPD has told CBS News that they have no complaints on file. They said if they receive complaints of a crime, it will investigate them thoroughly.
The state's Solicitor General, Barbara Underwood, will serve as acting Attorney General. She has a long history of legal work including serving in the Eastern District of New York and in the Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens district attorney offices.
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