The White House said Monday that President Trump wants women to feel comfortable coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, but that doesn’t mean he believes every accusation, especially those levied against him.
“As the President said himself, he thinks it’s a good thing that women are coming forward, but he also feels strongly that a mere allegation shouldn’t determine the course and in this case, the President has denied any of these allegations as have eyewitnesses and several reports have shown those eyewitnesses also back up the President’s claims in this process,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “The American people knew this and voted for the President and we feel like we’re ready to move forward in that process.”
In recent weeks, Trump has said he thinks it’s a good thing that more women are coming forward, but he has since backed Alabama Senate Republican candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct toward them when they were teens.
Before the election, Trump was accused by more than a dozen women of sexual harassment and assault. Trump has denied all the claims and called the women liars.
On Monday, three of Trump’s accusers went public and asked for a congressional ethics probe into the allegations against him. In the last week, several Democratic lawmakers have called on the President to resign, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kirsten Gillabrand (D-NY).
The White House has continuously defended the President, saying the American people made a judgment on whether they believed the Trump accusers by electing him President. On Monday, Sanders mildly dialed back on that outright rejection of the claims and suggested there were “eye witnesses” to refute the women’s accusations.
“The President has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations and this took place long before he was elected to be President and the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel that these allegations have been answered through that process,” she said.
When asked whether she struggled personally, as a woman, with the President’s response to the allegations, Sanders shot down the question, saying she’s there to relay Trump’s message.
