St. Louis (US): Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump held a press conference with three women who alleged former US President Bill Clinton harassed them during his years in the office, the media reported.
Donald Trump looks at Juanita Broaddrick, who has accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault
Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton head to St. Louis on Sunday night for a widely anticipated second presidential debate that comes as extraordinary upheaval in the Republican Party has upended the presidential race just a month before the election.
Trump held a brief news conference here with the women, Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, who alleged that Bill Clinton sexually assaulted or harassed them. The Trump pre-debate event was the clearest sign yet that he planned to use Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs to try to distract from the swirling controversy over his own predatory remarks about women.
Trump refused to answer questions from reporters about the video during his meeting in a hotel conference room with Paula Jones, Kathy Shelton, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey. Some of the women seated alongside him, however, were graphic in their accusations against the Clintons.
“Mr Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me,” Broaddrick said. “I don’t think there’s any comparison.” Broaddrick, a former Arkansas nursing home administrator, first claimed 17 years ago that Bill Clinton raped her during a meeting in Little Rock in 1978. Her lawsuit against him was dismissed in 2001 and criminal charges were never filed. Clinton has denied the allegations.
Trump has long hinted he would raise Bill Clinton’s sexual history at debates. In what was billed as a videotaped apology for the 2005 videotaped remarks, Trump said “Bill Clinton has actually abused women” and Hillary Clinton “bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated” her husband’s “victims.”
Trump’s campaign reeled over the weekend after the Friday release of a 2005 video recording that showed him speaking in vulgar and demeaning terms about women and boasting of how, because he was a celebrity, he could grope and kiss them whenever he wanted.
