Donald Trump once trashed the Bill Clinton accusers he deployed at the debate
Donald Trump may have described Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Kathy Shelton as “very courageous women” at Sunday night’s pre-debate press conference, but the businessman hasn’t always had such kind words for Bill Clinton’s accusers.
ABC News on Sunday dug up a 1998 interview in which the would-be Republican presidential nominee described Jones and others who accused then President Clinton of sexual misconduct as “unattractive” and “a terrible group of people.”
“It’s like it’s from hell,” Trump told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto in August 1998 of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the accusations that followed in its wake. He even expressed sympathy for the embattled president, arguing that Clinton was “really a victim himself.”
But on Sunday, Trump was determined to paint Clinton as a villain.
This was an apparent attempt to spin a 2005 recording that leaked to the Washington Post on Friday. In the videotape, Trump was caught crassly boasting that he could kiss and grope whomever he wanted because he’s “a star.” The scandal prompted significant backlash from within the Republican Party.
In a video apology issued Friday night, Trump argued that “there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people,” insisting that he only “said some foolish things” while “Bill Clinton has actually abused women.”
Trump doubled down on the Clinton counterpunch by inviting a group of women who have accused the former president of sexual harassment and assault to Sunday night’s debate against his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
And, according to the Washington Post, Trump’s campaign even attempted to seat the women prominently in his family box at the debate as a means of intimidating the Clintons. Debate commission officials reportedly squashed the scheme at the last minute, warning the Trump camp that security would remove the women if they tried to sit in the candidate’s elevated family box.
“We were going to put the four women in the VIP box,” former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the Post of the plan, which was reportedly concocted by Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon and son-in-law Jared Kushner. “We had it all set. We wanted to have them shake hands with Bill, to see if Bill would shake hands with them.”
After appearing alongside the Republican candidate at a pre-debate press conference, the women were forced to sit with the rest of the audience, avoiding the on-air confrontation Trump’s campaign apparently desired.
