The
plentiful sexual misconduct allegations against Donald Trump have
receded into the background since he won the presidential race, but a
star lawyer is committed to making sure the nation doesn’t forget about
them.
Gloria
Allred, a famous women’s rights lawyer, is currently representing
several women who accused the president-elect of sexual assault or
misconduct during his campaign. Despite legal threats from Trump — soon
to be the most powerful man in the country — she has no plans of backing
down.
“This
story became eclipsed the day that FBI director [James] Comey suggested
he was looking into Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails. And then, of
course the day before the election he said, ‘Nothing there.’ Too late
though because that may have motivated many of the Trump supporters to
go to the polls,” she said in a Thursday interview with Yahoo News.
“Yes, the story was eclipsed, but I don’t think the story is over yet.”
Allred
also pointed to the fact that Clinton got a plurality of the vote,
though Trump won the Electoral College by a comfortable margin. She said
Trump losing the popular vote was in part a rejection of his treatment
of women.
“A
minority voted for him in spite of it, maybe some even because of it,”
she continued. “And some perhaps completely ignoring or minimizing it.
And that is a very big disappointment to many, many people because it
should matter. I frankly think it should be a disqualifier.”
Attorney Gloria Allred and Trump accuser Jessica Drake speak to reporters in Los Angeles on Oct. 22. (Photo: Ryan Kang/AP)
The
controversy surrounding Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct erupted after
a 2005 tape, leaked in October, revealed him boasting about how his
celebrity status allowed him to grope and forcibly kiss women. He later
dismissed this as “locker-room talk” and claimed to have never acted on
those words. But the denial led to a stream of women accusing Trump of
groping or kissing them without their consent. On the campaign trail,
Trump disparaged these women as liars and threatened to sue them, saying
their stories were “fiction” and “fabrications.”
“Not
only the words on the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, but if it is believed
that he in fact acted on those words,” Allred said, “and then, knowing
that he acted on them, called his accusers ‘liars.’ … That together
should be more than sufficient to disqualify someone from the highest
office in our land, president of the United States, someone who should
be a role model for all of us.”
She
is concerned that Trump’s successful election might normalize or
legitimize his alleged behavior in the eyes of some young men. Those men
might start to think, she suggested, “And if he can do that and get
away with it, what’s wrong with my doing it?” She said that fear also
applies to his rhetoric about Muslims or any other minority group.
Allred
pointed out that many Republicans have also condemned his alleged
conduct, saying they would not want their wives or daughters subjected
to such behavior. She also said that there would have been consequences
for any high school students who acted like Trump when she was a teacher
more than 40 years ago. The lack of serious consequences, she said,
risks enabling a person’s bad behavior.
“Matter
of fact, one has to ask has he benefited from this while the accusers
have in fact been harmed? In other words, did that help him to win?” she
said. “Were there those who enjoyed the fact that he would lash out at
women who allege that he had in fact harmed them by acting on those
words?”
Protesters in Tallahassee, Fla., on Wednesday. (Photo: Phil SearsReuters)
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