New York Times Reveals Male Senator Who Made Weight Crack to Kirsten Gillibrand

One of the male colleagues who made a crack about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's weight was the late Daniel Inouye, according to the New York Times.

Citing "people with knowledge of the incident," the Times on Monday named Inouye as the senator whom Gillibrand said once squeezed her waist and told her, “Don’t lose too much weight now, I like my girls chubby.”

Getty, AP photos

Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) made the revelation in her new book, "Off the Sidelines," but didn't identify the colleague except to call him one of her "favorite older members of the Senate." Inouye (D-Hawaii) died in 2012 at age 88.

The New York Times reported:

It turns out the senator was the late Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, the decorated veteran and civil rights hero, according to people with knowledge of the incident.

With his deep baritone and courtly manner, Mr. Inouye was revered by his colleagues and was a powerhouse in both Hawaii and the Senate, where he was a reliable supporter of women’s rights.

But in an all but forgotten chapter of his career, the senator had been accused of sexual misconduct: In 1992, his hairdresser said that Mr. Inouye had forced her to have sex with him.

Her accusations exploded into a campaign issue that year, and one Hawaii state senator announced that she had heard from nine other women who said they had been sexually harassed by Mr. Inouye. But the women did not want to go forward with their claims.

A Gillibrand spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that Inouye was the senator, the Times reported.