Donald Trump complains that “evil people”, including women seeking fame and fortune, make up sexual assault claims against powerful men such as himself and his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump held an impromptu, rambling 83-minute news conference in New York on Wednesday, where he has been attending the UN General Assembly. His remarks came before today’s session of the Senate Judiciary Committee in which Professor Christine Blasey Ford — the first of three women to come forward and accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault as a teenager — and then the judge will testify.
Trump wobbled at one point, saying he would make up his mind after watching the hearing, but he steadied himself by railing against Democrats for a “big, fat con job” to derail the nomination.
Since Professor Ford came forward last week — followed by Deborah Ramirez and, in a court affidavit on Wednesday, Julie Swetnick — with the assault claims, Trump has denigrated the accounts. He implied that Ford is lying by not coming forward publicly before now, and assailed Ramirez for being “drunk” at the time of her alleged encounter with Kavanaugh and his friends.
Trump responded to a reporter’s question about any parallel between his case — in which Trump has boasted on video of sexually accosting women and has been accused by at least 15 women of sexual harassment — and that of Kavanaugh:
It does impact my opinion. You know why? Because I’ve had a lot of false charges made against me.
People want fame, they want money, they want whatever. So when I see it, I view it differently than somebody sitting home watching television where they say, ‘Oh, Judge Kavanaugh this or that.’ It’s happened to me many times.
Trump has been able so far to avoid a political, let alone legal, price over the multiple claims against him. However, his alleged sexual encounters with former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels have led to the downfall of his long-time lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen — and Cohen’s courtroom declaration that Trump is implicated in “criminal activity” over payoffs to the women.
If Thursday’s hearing goes badly for Kavanaugh, Trump left open an escape route:
They’re giving the women a major chance to speak. Now, it’s possible I’ll hear that and I’ll say, “Hey, I’m changing my mind.
I can always be convinced.
But, asked about his message to young men, Trump defended Kavanaugh as he theme that he has been personally oppressed:
This is a very big moment for our country because you have a man who’s very outstanding, but he’s got very strong charges against him, probably charges that nobody’s going to be able to prove. It’s happened to me many times, where false statements are made.”
In this case, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I think that is a very, very dangerous standard.
Government Employee Risks Security Clearance with Claim v. Kavanaugh
Until last week, the White House and Republican leadership in Congress had been confident that they could push through Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite Professor Ford’s account that the future judge had pinned her down, groped her, and tried to remove her clothes at a high school party in 1982.
But the Administration was then rocked by a second claim, published in the New Yorker, from Deborah Ramirez. She said that, during their freshman year at Yale University, Kavanaugh had put his penis in her face and caused her to touch it during a party game.
And on Wednesday, Julie Swetnick — a digital systems specialist with security clearance for the Federal Mint, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department — filed a court affidavist which said Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present at a party where she was drugged and gang-raped.
Swetnick said a group of men including Kavanaugh would get drunk and try to find vulnerable women at parties, hoping to drug and sexually assault them.
Trump Accuses China of Election Meddling, Ignores Russia
Chairing a UN Security Council session, Donald Trump accused China of interfering in US elections — but ignored Russia, which has been found culpable in the 2016 campaign that put Trump in the White House.
Trump claimed the Chinese — with whom he has started a trade war — are trying to damage his political standing before November’s mid-term Congressional elections. He told the Council, including China’s Foreign Minister, “They do not want me or us to win because I am the first President to ever challenge China on trade.”
Asked later in the day to compare the Russian and Chinese cases, Trump said, “Well, I think it’s different.”
Trump Berates Canada
Trump again berated Canada over trade, declaring — in a claim rejected by Ottawa — that he refused a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the UN General Assembly this week.
He renewed his threat to punish Canada with tariffs on its automobiles if Ottawa did not capitulate to his demands for changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The White House is warning that it will proceed with a bilateral trade deal with Mexico if Canada does not accede to ending support for its dairy farmers, removing a chapter which makes it easier to challenge US tariffs, and give up intellectual property rights over broadcasting, movies, and books.
“Frankly, we’re thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada,” Trump said. “That’s the big one. We’re very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada.”