Trump Vows To Sue Women Who Have Accused Him Of Sexual Misconduct

Trump Said That “After The Election Is Over” He’ll Sue “All Of These Liars” Who Accused Him Of Sexual Misconduct. Republican nominee Donald Trump claimed every woman accusing him of inappropriate sexual misconduct and assault “lied when they came forward” in an effort to undermine his presidential campaign and told a crowd in Pennsylvania that the “liars will be sued after the election is over.” Trump also implied that news outlets reported the allegations based on just a “simple phone call” and that they did “virtually no fact-checking.” From the October 22 article:

Donald Trump vowed Saturday to sue the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct in recent weeks.

“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign,” Trump said during remarks in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. “Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”

He added that a “simple phone call” to major news outlets “gets them wall-to-wall coverage with virtually no fact-checking ever.”

In the last two weeks, at least 10 women have come forward accusing Trump of inappropriately touching them. Their allegations came after a 2005 videotape surfaced of Trump bragging about being able to grope women and get away with it. [CNN.com, 10/22/16]

Fox News Host Defends Trump, Claims Women Have Not Been “Vetted”

Brian Kilmeade Casts Doubt On Trump’s Accusers: “None Of Them Have Been Vetted.” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked MSNBC media and politics analyst Steve Adubato if it bothered him that of the “nine to 11” women who have accused Trump of making inappropriate sexual advances, “none of them are vetted” and that the women “could be telling the truth or they could all be lying.” From the October 25 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Does it bother you that nine to 11 women come forward -- they all could be telling the truth or they could all be lying -- but none of them are vetted? They get into The New York Times. They lead other networks. Does that seem like something media should be doing, the leverage they should be having? [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/25/16]

Multiple Sources Have Verified Legitimacy Of Allegations

People Magazine Published Report Of Six People Who Corroborated Its Reporter’s Allegations. After Trump called People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff’s allegation that Trump led her into a room at his Mar-a-Lago mansion and physically forced himself on her while on assignment in 2005 “lies,” the magazine published a report containing six testimonials from Stoynoff’s former colleagues, professors, and friends, who spoke to the claims’ authenticity. [People magazine, 10/16/16]

Former Apprentice Contestant Offered Corroboration Through A Friend Of Claims Trump Groped Her In Hotel Room. After Trump denied ever meeting Summer Zervos outside of her role as a former contestant on The Apprentice, and Trump’s media surrogates accused Zervos of making the accusations to get Trump’s money, Zervos’ attorney presented the testimony a close friend of Zervos’ to verify her account. Zervos claimed Trump led her to a hotel room to talk about a job, where he groped and kissed her aggressively. [BuzzFeed, 10/16/16]

NY Times Corroborated Its Original Report On Two Women Who Said Trump Inappropriately Touched Them. The New York Times’ original report on Rachel Crooks and Jessica Leeds, who claimed that Trump made unwanted physical advances on them, included accounts from Crooks’ sister and Leeds’ neighbor that verified the reliability of the allegations:

Shaken, Ms. [Rachel] Crooks returned to her desk and immediately called her sister, Brianne Webb, in the small town in Ohio where they grew up, and told her what had happened.

“She was very worked up about it,” said Ms. Webb, who recalled pressing her sister for details. “Being from a town of 1,600 people, being naïve, I was like ‘Are you sure he didn’t just miss trying to kiss you on the cheek?’ She said, ‘No, he kissed me on the mouth.’ I was like, ‘That is not normal.’”

[...]

[Jessica Leeds] had largely put the encounter on the plane out of her mind until last year, when Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign became more serious. Since then, she has told a widening circle of people, including her son, a nephew and two friends, all of whom were contacted by The Times.



They said they were sickened by what they heard. “It made me shake,” said Linda Ross, a neighbor and friend who spoke with Ms. Leeds about the interaction about six months ago. Like several of Ms. Leeds’s friends, Ms. Ross encouraged her to tell her story to the news media. Ms. Leeds had resisted until Sunday’s debate, which she watched with Ms. Ross. [The New York Times, 10/12/16]

Wash. Post Corroborated Claims Made By Woman Who Claimed Trump Groped Her In Manhattan Nightclub. In its original reporting on Kristin Anderson’s allegation that Trump approached her and groped her while she was sitting on a couch in a Manhattan nightclub, The Washington Post included corroboration from friends and colleagues of Anderson’s who said they had heard about the encounter years ago. From the October 14 article:

Over the years, Anderson, now 46 and a photographer living in Southern California, recounted the story to people she knew, casually at first.

One friend, Kelly Stedman, told The Washington Post that Anderson told her about the encounter a few days after it happened.

“We were out at a girls’ brunch” at the Great Jones Cafe in Manhattan, Stedman said, recalling that when she and two other friends heard the story, they found themselves “laughing at how pathetic it was” on Trump’s part.

Anderson said she lived in New York City from 1991 until 2008. Brad Trent, a New York photographer, said he heard the story about Trump from Anderson at a dinner with a group of people in March 2007.

“It was just girls saying stories about how they got hit on by creepy old guys,” Trent said of the conversation around the table. “That’s when I found out about it.” [The Washington Post, 10/14/16]

Wash. Post Verified Claim Made By Woman Who Said Trump Groped Her At U.S. Open Tennis Match. In its original report, The Washington Post included comments from Karena Virginia’s husband, who said his wife had confided in him about being touched inappropriately by Trump and that “she had been cowed by it.” [The Washington Post, 10/20/16]

Palm Beach Post Cited Photographer Accompanying Woman Who Claims Trump Grabbed Her. The Palm Beach Post contacted a friend of Mindy McGillivray’s, who verified that McGillivray told him that she was inappropriately grabbed by Trump immediately after it allegedly happened during a Ray Charles concert at Mar-a-Largo. [The Palm Beach Post, 10/12/16]

NY Times Received “Almost Identical Accounts” Of Trump Assault From Jill Harth And Her Then-Boyfriend. An article detailing Jill Harth’s accusation that Trump groped her and tried to kiss her multiple times was corroborated by Harth’s then-boyfriend. The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof reported that although the former couple hadn’t “spoken in years,” they retold “almost identical accounts when [he] interviewed them separately.” [The New York Times, 10/7/16]