St. Louis
In response to the leak of a videotape in which Donald Trump brags about kissing and groping women, the GOP presidential nominee invited three women who have accused Bill Clinton of rape or sexual assault to attend Sunday night’s debate.
The alleged victims have also accused Hillary Clinton, who says sexual assault victims “have the right to be believed,” of playing a role in silencing them. So why doesn’t Hillary Clinton believe these accusers? At a townhall event earlier this year, Clinton was asked that very question: “Would you say that to Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and/or Paula Jones? Should we believe them as well?”
“Well, I would say that everyone should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence?” Clinton replied.
But what evidence is there that Kathleen Willey wasn’t sexually assaulted or that Juanita Broaddrick hadn’t been raped by Bill Clinton? Following Sunday night’s debate, I asked three official Clinton campaign surrogates in the “spin room” this question.
Missouri representative Emmanuel Cleaver didn’t point to any specific evidence disproving the allegations, but he dismissed the accusations because Bill Clinton hasn’t been convicted by a jury of any sexual crimes:
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said Trump’s decision to invite the women to attend the debate was the “desperate act of a desperate man.” The union boss similarly dismissed their accusations because Bill Clinton hasn’t been prosecuted. “Well, look, they’ve been telling the same story for how many years? How many? Twenty?” Trumka asked. “Something should’ve happened by now. This isn’t about those women. Those women were used tonight.
Missouri senator Claire McCaskill also said that Trump’s invitation to the women “was desperate,” but she was similarly unable to cite any evidence that shows Clinton’s accusers are lying. When I asked McCaskill if she agrees with Hillary Clinton that alleged victims have a right to be believed, the senator walked away:
Although McCaskill said the accusations don’t “have anything to do with Hillary Clinton’s conduct,” the Democratic presidential nominee has been accused by her husband’s alleged victims of trying to silence them. As Andrew Ferguson recently wrote:
As Dylan Matthews of the liberal Vox.com has noted, there isn’t any physical evidence proving or disproving Juanita Broaddrick’s allegation that Bill Clinton forcibly raped her in 1978, but she had given contemporaneous accounts of the alleged attack to several people.
In different circumstances, Democratic politicians would likely argue that flippantly dismissing an accusation of sexual assault is deeply insensitive and outrageous. But for the time being, Clinton surrogates can’t seem to be bothered with such considerations. They have a campaign to win.
