U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright delivers remarks to reporters in the Oval Office at the White House (REUTERS)
In the immediate aftermath of Democratic nominee Graham Platner dropping out of the Maine Senate election due to a rape accusation, a pro-Trump political consultant attempted to gloat — but was quickly called out for seemingly giving President Donald Trump a pass for similar alleged behavior.
“But do you believe E. Jean Carroll — you're so quick to point a finger in this situation, but do you agree with her?” journalist Christine Romans asked Republican consultant Brad Todd about E. Jean Carroll, who proved in a civil court that Trump sexually abused her in 1996. The Carroll case has remained in the news in large part because Trump is refusing to pay the more than $5 million settlement he was ordered by a federal judge to offer after she won a defamation case against him over the accusation. In the ruling, the judge said that Carroll had prevailed in court in demonstrating that her 1996 story about Trump is true.
“Do you agree with what the federal judge said today about President Trump?” Romans asked Todd, who had argued that Democrats should have believed the wave of stories that came out against Platner, including from a Republican worker named Lyndsey Fifield. Todd ignored that two dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, and similarly did not directly answer Romans’ question about Carroll. He also did not mention that Trump was accused in the files of his longtime friend, the late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in the 1980s.
“I believe in our court system,” Todd told Romans. “We're having a show — not on Graham Platner. We're having a show about Graham Platner and how Maine's exclusive — power. You're trying to change the subject because this is a really bad day for Democrats, who did not believe Lyndsey Fifield's legitimate allegations of abuse last month. And every Democrat who thought maybe Graham Platner could still win “
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interjected, “Brad, you're asking the question why didn't people believe the woman who was apparently a Republican who made allegations? I mean, Christine is asking, do you believe E. Jean Carroll?”
Todd, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, again did not directly answer the question.
“Well, E. Jean Carroll had a day in civil court, and it's not a criminal charge, but I believe our court system, and I believe our court system works,” Todd told Cooper. “I didn't — there was no criminal trial on the E. Jean Carroll case. I don't know if there will be a criminal trial here or not, but I think that there is a situation here where Democrats have told us Donald Trump's character is terrible, Ken Paxton's character is terrible, and certainly there are challenges in plenty of cases across the board in both parties on character. But Graham Platner not only threatened individuals, he threatened to upend civic life.”
Todd then argued that Democrats should have noticed something was wrong with Platner when the Maine candidate said people should harass Republicans for not supporting Medicare for All, saying this proved “Graham Platner has been dangerous from the very jump, and Democrats encouraged him every step of the way.”
At this point journalist Gretchen Carlson jumped in.
“Anderson, let me, just say that I agree,” Carlson said. “I agree with both Brad and with Christine on this, because when you treat women like this with sexual misconduct, it's about power. It shouldn't be about politics. Lyndsey should have been believed from the beginning, but the Maine seat was incredibly important to Democrats. We all can understand that. We don't agree with it, potentially, but we can all understand that. But politics should never be above power. And in this situation, again, I agree with Brad on that, and I agree with Christine on E. Jean Carroll.”
She concluded, “We all have to own this in our country, whether we are a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent. We have to come together and say that we are going to get rid of people that conduct this kind of behavior, and we're going to believe the women that have the courage to come forward at great costs. That's how we heal this nation.”
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