Trump Ally Roger Stone's Group Paid Sexual Assault Victim Critical Of Hillary Clinton

Longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone's super PAC paid a sexual assault victim who appeared with the Republican presidential nominee prior to the October 9 debate.

The Associated Press reported today that Stone paid Kathy Shelton $2,500 through his political group the Committee to Restore America's Greatness. Stone has a decades-long history of employing political smears, and he regularly spouts violent, racist, and sexist rhetoric, including calling Hillary Clinton a “cunt” and advocating that she be executed for treason.

Shelton was one of several women who appeared with Trump at a “surprise panel of Bill Clinton's accusers” that Trump broadcast live to Facebook immediately prior to the debate (a strategy that comes from Stone). As a young lawyer in 1975, Clinton represented an indigent defendant alleged to have raped Shelton. While conservatives have attacked Clinton’s work on the case, such criticisms undermine the American system of justice, as Republican lawyers and the American Bar Association have previously noted.

The AP reported of Stone and Shelton:

Shelton's case has been extensively cited in conservative media as evidence that Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president, does not have the best interests of women at heart.

The May payment to Shelton by the Committee to Restore America's Greatness PAC, founded by Stone, was described as “contract labor” in campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Asked by The Associated Press about the reason for the payment, Stone said in an email that Shelton “was extensively interviewed on video about her experience with Hillary Clinton and was paid for her time.”

[...]

Stone has arranged to pay other women critical of the Clintons.

Earlier this year, Stone sought to raise money to pay off the mortgage of Kathleen Willey, who accused Bill Clinton of making unwanted sexual advances toward her during her time as a volunteer in his White House in the 1990s. Stone claimed in an online video interview that Trump had personally contributed to the fund.

Trump's campaign has not endorsed Stone's political action committee, and has sent the group a cease and desist letter. The campaign has denied that Trump gave money to Willey's mortgage fund.