Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Hillary Clinton’s campaign pressured the presidential debate commission to keep the women who have accused Bill Clinton of rape and sexual abuse out of the front row of last night’s presidential debate.
Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey have each accused Clinton of misconduct, and Trump held a press conference with them before the debate. A fourth woman, Kathy Shelton, accused a man of raping her who was ultimately defended by Hillary Clinton.
Giuliani told Fox News late Sunday that it was a good strategy to bring the four women to the debate, and that Clinton’s campaign team actively worked to downplay their presence.
“Absolutely,” Giuliani said on Fox when asked if it was a good plan. “Shook the heck out of her. Why do you think she was rattled at the beginning of the debate?”
“I know it because they called the debate commission, and said, ‘please don’t put them in the first row,'” he added. “They didn’t want Bill to have to see them.”
Monday morning, the Washington Post reported that Trump wanted to have the four women sit along with members of the Trump family at the debate, but the debate commission rejected that.
“The commission officials warned that, if the Trump campaign tried to seat the accusers in the elevated family box, security officers would remove the women, according to the people involved, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential,” the Post reported.
