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By Allan Smith
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is officially launching her presidential campaign on Sunday with a speech outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City, where she will say she wants voters to know that no one in the Senate has done more than she to fight President Donald Trump.
“I’m proud to have stood up to Donald Trump more than anyone else in the Senate,” she will say, according to prepared remarks. “I’ve fought against his ban on transgender service members in our military and the inhumane unacceptable treatment of asylum seekers at our border. I have confronted the corruption of this administration by opposing unqualified Cabinet nominees and extremist judges who would extend Trump’s harmful ideology for generations to come.”
“I will go toe-to-toe with anyone to do the right thing, whether it’s powerful institutions, the president, or even my own party,” Gillibrand’s remarks continue. “But I’m not running for president because of who I’m fighting against. I’m running for president because of who I’m fighting for.”
The two-term senator launched an exploratory presidential committee in January, but so far, she has not taken off in the polls despite being one of the more prominent members of Congress running for the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination.
Gillibrand has positioned herself as a leader of the #MeToo movement and was the first senator to call for then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., to resign after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.
On Sunday, she will say Trump is “tearing apart the moral fabric of our country” and “demonizes the vulnerable” by punching down.
“He puts his name in bold on every building,” Gillibrand will say. “He does all of this because he wants you to believe he is strong. He is not. Our President is a coward.”
“That’s not what we deserve — not what you deserve,” the senator’s remarks say. “We need a president who is brave — a president who will walk through fire to do what’s right, making Americans’ lives better.”
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Gillibrand will also point to the Trump building she was speaking in front of as “a shrine to greed, division and vanity.
“And now look around you,” she will say. “The greater strength, by far, is ours.”
