President Donald Trump on Tuesday mocked the woman who alleged Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her decades ago. The allegations made against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee have dredged up emotions for many — some who empathized with Christine Blasey Ford who gave tearful public testimony last week, and others, including some vocal men, who fear the ramifications of a false allegation.
Kavanaugh himself has strenuously denied the allegations against him.
It also serves as a reminder that Trump, himself, faces a list of accusations, which he has denied. His reaction to Kavanaugh, therefore, is not happening in a vacuum, something he acknowledges.
“When you say does it affect me in terms of my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh? Absolutely. Because I’ve had it many times,” Trumptold reporters at the news conference amid the United Nations General Assembly last week.
“People want fame. They want money,” he added, alluding to what he thinks are the motivations of accusers.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, at least 13 women accused Trump of misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment and sexual assault. They came forward in the wake of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape that was released in October 2016 in which he is caught saying on a hot mic: “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.”
The White House — through press secretary Sarah Sanders and others — has dismissed all the allegations against him as old news that had been litigated during the campaign.
The President has also voiced suspicion about the year-old #MeToo movement in private, complaining that allegations made decades later can ruin a man’s life, people familiar with those conversations say. He has questioned why women wait so long to come forward if they are telling the truth. On Tuesday, he expressed concern for men in this moment.
“It is a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of,” Trump told reporters. “This is a very, very — this is a very difficult time. What’s happening here has much more to do than even the appointment of a Supreme Court justice.”
And on Tuesday night, he unleashed on Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser, after previously calling her a credible witness.
“How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Mississippi, mimicking Ford’s testimony last week to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump’s comments were met with laughter and applause from the crowd.
For context on his own experience, here’s a list of women who have made claims against Trump and their allegations, which the White House has denied:
Jessica Leeds
Leeds accused Trump of grabbing her chest and attempting to move his hand up her skirt on a flight in the 1980s.
Kristin Anderson
Anderson said she was sitting with friends at a Manhattan nightclub in the early 1990s when a man suddenly put his hand up her skirt. Moments afterward, she said she recognized the man to be Trump. The two had not spoken or met before the incident occurred. She first made the allegations to The Washington Post, which reported her claim that Trump touched “her vagina through her underwear.” CNN has not been able to independently confirm Anderson’s claim.
Jill Harth
Trump allegedly made unwanted sexual advances towards Harth, including groping her under her skirton two different occasions in 1992 and 1993 during initial meetings regarding a business venture, according to Hart’s lawyer.
Temple Taggart
The former Miss Utah alleged that Trump twice subjected her to unwanted sexual advances in 1997. She said Trump gave her a non-consensual embrace and kissed her on the lips during a rehearsal for the Miss USA Pageant. She said the behavior was repeated later during a meeting at Trump Tower.
Cathy Heller
Heller told the Guardian that Trump “took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips,” without her consent in 1997 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The Guardian reported that it spoke to a friend who Heller told about the incident and a relative who witnessed part of it. CNN has not been able to independently confirm Heller’s claims.
Karena Virginia
Karena Virginiasaid that in 1998 Trump groped her breast without her permission while waiting for a car service outside the US Open.
Mindy McGillivray
McGillivray said Trump grabbed her buttin 2003 when she was assisting a photographer hired to work a concert at Mar-a-Lago.
Natasha Stoynoff
Stoynoff alleged that in 2005 while on assignment to write a story on Trump’s wedding anniversary for People magazine, Trump pushed her against a wall, started “forcing his tongue” down her throat, and physically attacked her during a tour of the Mar-a-Lago.
Rachel Crooks
Crooks said that in 2006, while she was working as a receptionist at the Bayrock Group, which was located in Trump Tower, Trump kissed her on the mouth without her consent.
Jessica Drake
In a hotel suite at a charity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006, Drake alleges that Trump hugged and kissed her and two other women. Drake, an adult film actress and director, said she later received a phone call from Trump, who asked her to return and go out to dinner or attend a party with him. When she declined, he offered her $10,000 and use of his private jet if she accepted.
Ninni Laaksonen
Ninni Laaksonen, the former Miss Finland, accused Trump of grabbing her buttbefore an appearance on CBS’ “The Late Show with David Letterman” in 2006.
Summer Zervos
Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” alleged that in 2007, Trump kissed her on the lips during a lunch meeting in his New York City office. On a separate occasion in Beverly Hills, she alleges he kissed her aggressively and touched her breast.
Zervos filed a lawsuit against Trump in January 2017 alleging that he defamed her after she said in 2016 that he sexually assaulted her. Last month, Trump was instructed to provide written responses to questions from Zervos’ legal team.
Anonymous
According to CNN’s Erin Burnett, Trump suggested her friend, who was with him in a Trump Tower boardroom in 2010, take some Tic Tacs. Then he leaned in to kiss her on the lips, which caught her off guard.
“I was really freaked out,” the woman later told Burnett.
After that, Trump invited her into his office alone. He told the woman she was “special” and proceeded to give her his cell phone number.
“I ran the hell out of there,” the friend told Burnett.
