CNN’s Brooke Baldwin twice this week has moved to dismiss talk of former President Bill Clinton’s past sex scandals.
Baldwin tried to shut down Gina Loudon after the Donald Trump supporter mentioned Monday that the former president once agreed to pay $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones.
“[W]hat I think is reprehensible is you take someone like Hillary Clinton who has basically danced on the assaults of women – there are dozens of women, by the way – that her husband has maligned and assaulted, paying Paula Jones off $850,000 for hush money,” Loudon began.
Baldwin interject, “Okay, let’s not go there.”
“I wish Hillary would come to the defense of these women. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Hillary would come to the defense of these women now?” Loudon continued.
Baldwin replied, “I think the Clinton camp – and, listen, I would say this either way, just to be fair to both of them – but I think the Clinton camp would point to, you know, her resume of lifting women up through the years.”
On Tuesday, the CNN host challenged a guest for suggesting Bill Clinton has a troubling history of sexual misconduct.
“[Hillary Clinton] has a history of being abusive towards women, you know, specifically the ones that her husband’s had extramarital affairs with, so I think it’s very hypocritical of her,” Trump press secretary Healy Baumgardner started to say before a dismissive Baldwin interrupted.
Baumgardner’s remarks came after she was asked to respond to allegations made in an anti-Trump PAC ad.
“Wow. Wow, hang on a second,” Baldwin said. “That’s where you’re going to go in the first 20 seconds?”
Later in the same interview, the CNN anchor was similarly unimpressed when Alice Stewart, Sen. Ted Cruz’s communications director, characterized Clinton as a man “who has spent a lifetime preying on women.”
“Hillary Clinton is far from the standard-bearer for fighting for women’s issues,” she said, adding that the former secretary of state is an “enabler.”
Though Baldwin mostly let Stewart finish making her points, the CNN anchor interrupted at the end with a blunt question: “Are you supporting Trump, Alice?”
“Are you supporting Mr. Trump now, Alice?” the host asked a second time.
Stewart would only say that she has always been supporting of a “conservative candidate.”
In each instance of Baldwin’s dismissiveness, it occurred as she and her guests discussed anecdotes (some more than 20-years-old) alleging Trump has a troubling history of sexist behavior.
Baldwin isn’t the only person at CNN to bristle at mentions of Clinton’s past sexual misconduct.
Last December, Don Lemon became irate when conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter kept mentioning the issue.
“Stop, stop, stop. That’s not fair,” said Lemon. “It is not fair. It is a low blow. It is not fair. I want to end this. This is the lowest of the low. It has nothing to do with Hillary Clinton. It’s a cheap shot.”
The CNN host had Schlichter’s microphone cut, and ended the interview abruptly.
Bill Clinton has admitted to having at least two extramarital affairs: One was with a former model, Gennifer Flowers, and the other was with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
A former Arkansas nursing home administrator, Juanita Broaddrick, has also accused the former president of raping her in 1978. The Clintons have not addressed this charge recently, despite that it has resurfaced in the 2016 election.
