Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Monday night slammed the lawyer for Donald Trump who claimed that legally, a man cannot rape his wife, comparing him to former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), the politician known for his claim about “legitimate rape” in the 2012 election.
Most shocking part of this? Trump’s lawyer thinks it’s legal to rape your spouse. Giving Akin a run for his money. http://t.co/eB9h2KjiFc
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) July 28, 2015
.@groskogirl I spent years in the courtroom as a prosecutor, and it is incompetent for any lawyer to not know that rape is rape.
— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) July 28, 2015
McCaskill, who defeated Akin in 2012, was referring to comments made by Michael Cohen, a special counsel to Donald Trump, while defending Trump from sexual assault allegations made by his ex-wife.
Cohen told the Daily Beast that “by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse,” adding that “there’s very clear case law.”
He later apologized for his comments, which he said were “inarticulate.”
Cohen made the statement while defending Donald Trump from allegations made by his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, in a deposition quoted by the 1993 book, “Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump.”
Ivana said in the deposition that Donald assaulted her in 1989, pulling out her hair and then forcibly penetrating her, according to the book. Donald Trump denied her claims about the assault in 1993, and Ivana Trump softened her statements on the incident. She gave a statement for “Lost Tycoon,” saying that she “felt violated” after the incident but did “not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense,” according to the Daily Beast.
Ivana Trump on Tuesday criticized the Daily Beast report, saying it was “without merit.”
Following the Daily Beast report resurfacing material from the 1993 book, DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schult (D-FL) issued a statement condemning Cohen’s comments.
“This is a new low. Rape is rape. Full stop. End of story. There is no difference or division between ‘forcible’, ‘legitimate’, ‘marital’ or any other label Republicans slap on before the word ‘rape’. All rape is a disgusting violation, and Americans have fought too long and hard for that to be acknowledged to still have it questioned in 2015,” she said in a Tuesday statement. “It’s a pattern of outrageous comments that must stop, and Republicans should call it what it is – despicable.”
