Charlie Rose Says His Sexual Harassment Accusers Are 'Exploiting' The #MeToo Movement

Former CBS News anchor Charlie Rose has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by three women who accuse him of sexual harassment.

In the filing, he said that the women are "exploiting the #MeToo movement" and that they do not have the legal evidence to support their claims.

"Tacitly recognizing the weakness of their factual allegations, Plaintiffs seek to bolster their threadbare and conclusory claims by exploiting the #MeToo Movement and bootstrapping the accusations of sexual harassment made by third parties against Rose in articles published by The Washington Post," the motion said, referring to a series of stories that aired the accusations against him.

The motion filed by Rose's attorney also argues that "none of the three plaintiffs," Katherine Brooks Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing Wei, "alleges a cognizable claim of gender discrimination harassment or retaliation."

"Plaintiffs are not alleged to have had any knowledge of a single one of those accusations set forth in the articles. These hearsay accusations do not and cannot supply the missing link to the legally deficient claims," the motion reads.

The three women bringing the lawsuit against Rose are former CBS employees who worked with the anchor while they were in their 20s.

They have alleged that Rose repeatedly touched them in a sexual manner, including "without limitation caressing and touching their arms, shoulders, waist and back," and would pull them "close to his body" and kiss them on the cheek.

The lawsuit came soon after a shocking report published by The Washington Post, in which 27 women alleged Rose sexually harassed them. In the article, the women say that their concerns about his behavior were reported to managers at CBS as early as 1986. Complaints continued to be filed against Rose as recently as April 2017, when he was a co-host on the network's morning news show.

The three plaintiffs now suing Rose were also included in the article and spoke to reporters on the record.

Rose's response to the Post's story was that it was "unfair and inaccurate." The news personality didn't comment further on the allegations by the 27 women.

The articles published by the Post caused Rose to be fired from CBS News and his program on PBS was also cancelled. His co-workers on CBS This Morning, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, expressed shock over the accusations but also said that there is no excuse for Rose's behavior.

"What do you say when someone that you deeply care about has done something that is so horrible?" King asked one of their first shows since the allegations had surfaced.

The chief executive of CBS, Les Moonves, has also been the target of sexual misconduct allegations.

"I recognize that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances," Moonves said in a statement. According to recent reports, board members of the CBS corporation are currently negotiating for Mooves to exit his role.