This is the list of ‘eyewitnesses’ the White House says exonerate Trump Late Monday night, Sanders sent the list to ThinkProgress.
JUDD LEGUM DEC 12, 2017, 9:43 AM
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders promised that she would produce a list of eyewitnesses to exonerate President Trump from allegations of sexual harassment and assault. In a statement, the White House said these eyewitnesses “totally disputed in most cases” the accusations that women have raised against Trump.
The pledge came after three women came forward again to speak out about their experiences with Trump and demand an investigation into Trump’s alleged sexual harassment and assault.
Overall, at least 14 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault — with others alleging other forms of sexual harassment and predation.
Sanders sent the list of supposed eyewitnesses to ThinkProgress late Monday night. It contains the names of three people, as well as references to previously published reports regarding those people.
Katie Blair Katie Blair is offered by the White House as an “eyewitness” who disputes the account of Samantha Holvey, who alleges “Trump personally inspected each of the contestants” at an event prior to the 2006 Miss USA pageant. Holvey said it was “the dirtiest I felt in my entire life.” She also said that Trump went into a dressing room while some of the contestants were getting ready.
Blair, however, was not even a contestant at the 2006 Miss USA pageant and has not publicly commented on Holvey’s claims. She was the winner of Miss Teen USA in 2006, which is a different event. Miss Teen USA was held in August 2006 in Palm Springs. Miss USA was held in April 2006 in Baltimore.
Blair spoke out after “multiple other former contestants claimed he walked in on girls changing during a different pageant in 1997.” Blair said that nothing similar had happened to her. She did not rule out that Trump come into a dressing room while contestants were changing but suggested that, if it did happen, it’s because the women wanted to expose themselves to Trump. “[I]f anything like that ever occurred, the women involved were probably ‘well aware’ that Trump was coming back there,” Blair told the New York Daily News.
Melissa Young Melissa Young was also offered as an “eyewitness” who disputes the account of Samantha Holvey. The White House list describes Young as someone who “Also Competed In The 2005 Miss USA Pageant.”
But Holvey was not a contestant in the 2005 Miss USA pageant. In fact, Holvey represented North Carolina in the 2006 Miss USA Pageant, while Young represented Wisconsin in the 2005 Miss USA Pageant. (A different contestant named Chelsea Cooley represented North Carolina in 2005; she won.)
An inquiry to the White House press office about this apparent error was not immediately returned.
Young has not publicly commented on Holvey’s account. She says that Trump was kind to her several years later when she had a blood clot that sent her to the hospital. Young described Trump as a “gentleman.”
Notably, one person who says Trump walked into dressing rooms while beauty pageant contestants were changing is Donald Trump himself. Here is what Trump told Howard Stern in 2005:
Well, I’ll tell you the funniest [sic] is that before a show, I’ll go backstage and everyone’s getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. You know they’re standing there with no clothes… And you see these incredible-looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.
Trump’s language, that he “inspected” the contestants, matches Holvey’s account.
Anthony Gilberthorpe Anthony Gilberthorpe first emerged during Trump’s presidential campaign and claimed to be an eyewitness disputing the account of Jessica Leeds, who says Trump groped her on an airplane in 1980. Gilberthorpe’s name does not appear on the document provided by the White House, which simply refers to him as “an eyewitness.”
Gliberthorpe’s specific claim about Leeds has no independent backing but is based on his “self-described excellent memory.” He claims that, as an 18-year-old British boy, he was in the first class cabin of a U.S. domestic flight. Although he claims “nothing inappropriate” happened, he says he remembers the interactions between Trump and Leeds exactly and monitored their behavior the entire flight. According to Gilberthorpe, Leeds was flirting with Trump. Later Gilberthorpe claims that Leeds, then in her 30s, confided in him (an 18-year-old stranger) that she wanted to marry Trump.
But even more significantly, as ThinkProgress has previously reported, Gilberthorpe is a notorious liar:
In 1987, for example, he told newspapers in England that he was engaged to fashion designer in California named Miss Leah Bergdorf-Hunt. “Both our families are delighted,” he told The Gloucester Express. It was later revealed that he was not engaged. Also there was no Miss Bergdorf-Hunt. He invented the whole thing.
He later won a substantial libel judgment from British newspapers that reported he had AIDS. But it eventually came out that Gilberthorpe himself was the source for the story. The newspapers appealed and Gilberthorpe ended up settling after the newspapers agreed to offset a small portion of his legal fees. The incident left him “very much out of pocket and with egg all over his face.”
Gilberthorpe also contends that, as a young man, he was “paid to recruit underage rent boys for orgies attended by ministers from Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet.” There is no evidence to support his salacious claims.
So the White House’s list of “eyewitnesses” consists of two women who don’t even claim to be eyewitnesses and a British man with an incredible story and a documented history of deception. The White House is suggesting that these “eyewitnesses” mean the claims of more than 14 women are “totally disputed.”
President Trump attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a sexually suggestive tweet Tuesday morning that implied Gillibrand would do just about anything for money, prompting a swift and immediate backlash.
“Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Charles E. Schumer and someone who would come to my office 'begging' for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” the president wrote. “Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!”
Donald J. Trump ? @realDonaldTrump Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED! 1:03 PM - Dec 12, 2017 56,581 56,581 Replies 14,947 14,947 Retweets 52,988 52,988 likes
The tweet came as Trump is already facing negative publicity from renewed allegations from three women who had previously accused him of sexual harassment, which are coming amid the #MeToo movement that is roiling the nation and forcing powerful men accused of sexual misbehavior from their posts.
The president ignored a reporter's question about the tweet after he signed a defense authorization bill shortly after noon.
The backlash and criticism was near instantaneous, with Gillibrand replying directly to Trump on Twitter. “You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office,” she wrote.
At a news conference later on an unrelated issue, Gillibrand called Trump’s tweet “a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice.”
“I will not be silent on this issue, neither will women who stood up to the president yesterday and neither will the millions of women who have been marching since the Women’s March to stand up against policies they do not agree with,” she added.
Gillibrand once again called on GOP congressional leaders to launch investigations into the allegations made by women against Trump, saying, “It’s the right thing to do, and these allegations should be investigated. They should be investigated thoroughly. That is the right thing to do, and I’m urging them to do that — as should their constituents.”
Asked about her interactions with the president, Gillibrand told reporters that Trump was “just a supporter — a supporter of my first campaign.”
Several female senators also rallied around Gillibrand, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who pointedly asked Trump on Twitter whether he was trying to “bully, intimidate and slut-shame” Gillibrand.
“Do you know who you're picking a fight with?” Warren said. “Good luck with that, @realDonaldTrump.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) also weighed in on Twitter, writing that there is “nobody tougher than @SenGillibrand & she won’t be intimidated. Women will continue to speak up.”
Gillibrand was attending a bipartisan Bible study Tuesday morning when Trump's tweet landed, and her phone was immediately filled with supportive and befuddled messages, wondering just what the president was thinking, a Gillibrand aide said.
Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News personality whose lawsuit against Roger Ailes for sexual harassment led to the resignation of the late network chairman, also weighed in with a duo of tweets defending Gillibrand.
“What do u mean @SenGillibrand would 'do anything' for campaign contributions? By the way she isn’t a lightweight,” she wrote. In a second tweet, Carlson continued: “Sexual harassment is apolitical. Women will not be silenced no matter what party they are in. Period.”
Katty Kay, an anchor for BBC World News America, also took to social media to respond to the president's missive against Gillibrand, casting it in tweets as “clearly sexual” and “demeaning to women.”
“What is so maddening about the Gillibrand tweet is that women can be smart, work hard, become Senator and STILL get sexual c**p thrown at us,” she wrote. “Enough.”
Trump offered no evidence to support his wink-and-nod claim that Gillibrand had gone to him “begging” for campaign donations “and would do anything for them.” In fact, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit website that tracks campaign contributions, since 1996, Trump has donated $8,900 to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and $5,850 to Gillibrand.
Gillibrand met with Trump once in 2010, the Gillibrand aide said, and Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka, who has tried to cast herself as a champion of women, attended the meeting,
On Monday, Gillibrand, a leading voice in Congress for combating sexual assault in the military, became the fifth Democratic senator to call on Trump to step down because of the allegations of sexual misconduct against him — accusations the president has denied and the White House dismissed again on Monday.
“President Trump has committed assault, according to these women, and those are very credible allegations of misconduct and criminal activity, and he should be fully investigated and he should resign,” Gillibrand said on CNN. “These allegations are credible; they are numerous. I've heard these women's testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking.”
She joined Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in calling for Trump's resignation.
Trump has not commented on the male senators' demand that he resign.
On Tuesday, a sixth senator — Democrat Mazie Hirono of Hawaii — called on Trump to resign, citing his morning tweet targeting Gillibrand.
“@realDonaldTrump is a misogynist, compulsive liar, and admitted sexual predator,” she said. “Attacks on Kirsten are the latest example that no one is safe from this bully. He must resign.”
Trump’s attack on Twitter also coincided with a previously scheduled event led by at least 59 House Democrats, who formally called on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to launch an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the president. The oversight panel has the broadest subpoena power and investigatory mandate of any congressional committee.
What Trump tweeted on Tuesday “is grotesque, it took my breath away and it represents the conduct of a person who is ill-equipped to be the president of the United States,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said at the news conference.
Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, called Trump's tweet “disgusting” but also noted, “It will make the Gillibrand folks ecstatic,” implying that the sparring with Trump would raise her profile.
Gillibrand, however, does have her critics. After she said in November that Bill Clinton should have resigned as president following his inappropriate affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, longtime Hillary Clinton adviser and confidant Philippe Reines excoriated her on Twitter for being ungrateful and two-faced.
“Senate voted to keep POTUS WJC. But not enough for you @SenGillibrand? Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite. Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck,” Reines wrote.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about why the president sent the tweet, or what exactly he was insinuating.
A longtime ally of Donald Trump has already begun writing his political obituary.
Political strategist Roger Stone is writing a book chronicling Mr Trump’s tumultuous presidency, and he already has a title: “The Fall of Trump”.
That title, Mr Stone told Vanity Fair, corresponds with his sense that Mr Trump’s presidency is in peril but the President is not hearing “the truth about how bad things are”.
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Multiple threats could derail Mr Trump, according to Mr Stone, including Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential collaboration between the Russian government and the Trump presidential campaign.
That probe has already penetrated Mr Trump’s inner orbit, leading to charges against multiple former campaign officials. Former campaign aide George Papadopoulos and former campaign surrogate Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Mr Trump’s National Security Adviser, have both pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI; former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges, calling them false and unfounded.
It is now “painfully obvious Mueller will bring charges,” Mr Stone told Vanity Fair.
“The only people who don’t seem to know it” are the President and his attorneys, Mr Stone said. One of those attorneys, Ty Cobb, said this week that Mr Mueller had concluded conducting interviews and told multiple outlets he hoped for an “appropriate and prompt conclusion”.
Mr Stone also singled out Nikki Haley, the Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, who said over the weekend that women who have accused the President of sexual misconduct “should be heard”.
“Nikki Haley stuck a knife in his back,” Mr Stone said.
More than a dozen women have accused Mr Trump of unwanted advances, including unsolicited touching or kissing. Mr Trump and the White House have called those allegations false and dismissed the women as liars.
But dozens of Democratic legislators have called for hearings on the allegations. New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand has said Mr Trump should resign, drawing a broadside from the president.
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