Donald Trump’s campaign plans to intensify attacks on Hillary Clinton over her husband’s past sexual misconduct, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
“We’re gonna go buck wild,” an unidentified Trump adviser told Bloomberg, claiming that the campaign would bring forward women who have previously unreported accounts of being “groped or sexually abused” by former president Bill Clinton.
This report comes as at least four women have come out with new accounts of Trump subjecting them to groping or unwanted kissing, several in professional settings. All of the women claim they were motivated to come forward after Trump repeatedly denied acting on the behavior he described in an “Access Hollywood” tape leaked on Friday, in which the Republican nominee bragged about using his celebrity status to grope women without permission.
The Trump campaign has denied all of the allegations and tried to write off his comments in the video as “locker room talk.” They have also countered by highlighting the accounts of three women who claim they were sexually harassed or assaulted by Bill Clinton, even inviting them to Sunday’s second presidential debate.
The plan to intensify these attacks through a media blitz and potentially inviting the accusers to accompany Trump to campaign rallies was apparently concocted before the new allegations against the real estate mogul surfaced. Campaign CEO Steve Bannon, deputy campaign manager David Bossie and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were behind this new focus, several campaign officials told Bloomberg.
The media push is set to begin on Thursday night with a one-hour Fox News special hosted by Sean Hannity featuring a group interview with Clinton accusers Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, and Juanita Broaddrick. Interviews with other accusers will reportedly follow.
“Once the campaign decided to put forward the strategy of using the victims of Bill and Hillary Clinton from the ’90s, others came forward because they see the media coverage,” Bossie told Bloomberg. “Now, we have an opportunity to introduce new material into the campaign to educate voters on how they treat women.”
Targeting the millennial female voters that Trump’s campaign has so fair failed to attract, Bossie said the plan was to make Hillary Clinton appear hypocritical for condemning sexual assault while criticizing her husband’s accusers.
“It’s untenable and it’s farcical,” Bossie told Bloomberg. “With rape culture being what it is, these facts are going to shock millennial women.
Trump’s poll numbers have tanked in the days since the “Access Hollywood” video was released, particularly among women.
