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Donald Trump: Not guilty of rape by reason of polling better than Jeb Bush?

Donald Trump on the man who reported Ivana Trump’s allegations: “He is a guy that is an unattractive guy.”

People in glass Trump Towers shouldn’t throw stones — or, perhaps, throw around accusations of rape, as one Donald Trump did recently in his now infamous remarks suggesting that Mexican immigrants are a bunch of rapists.

A must-read story yesterday in The Daily Beast points out that Trump is not only a rape accuser of sorts, but someone who was once very publicly accused of rape — by his now-former wife Ivana Trump, who, in a deposition in her divorce case against the Donald in the early 90s, said that she’s been attacked one night by her then husband in a fit of rage, screaming at her and pulling out her hair before ripping off her clothes and raping her. 

The Beast reports that, according to Lost Tycoon, a 1993 book about Trump by journalist Harry Hurt III, Ivana told her closest friends that “he raped me.” Later, though, in a statement she provided through Trump’s lawyers, and that was reprinted in the book as “A Notice to Readers,” Ivana backed away from the R-word, saying that

[a]s a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.

Make of that what you will.

At the time, the Daily Beast notes, Trump declared the account in the book

incorrect and done by a guy without much talent … He is a guy that is an unattractive guy who is a vindictive and jealous person.

Very Trumpian.

But even more remarkable than this bizarre denial was the even Trumpier response that Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s lawyers, gave to the Daily Beast writer who asked him about the allegations:

You’re talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody. 

Evidently one cannot be a rapist if one is polling better than Jeb Bush.

Cohen continued:

And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.

As the Beast points out, Cohen is completely wrong here. Not only is marital rape illegal in New York state now; it was illegal in New York state in 1989, the date of the alleged rape.

Perhaps sensing he wasn’t getting anywhere with the “you can’t rape your spouse” angle, “Trump’s lawyer then changed tactics,” the Beast reports,

lobbing insults and threatening a lawsuit if a story was published.

“I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen said. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”

“You write a story that has Mr. Trump’s name in it, with the word ‘rape,’ and I’m going to mess your life up…for as long as you’re on this frickin’ planet…you’re going to have judgments against you, so much money, you’ll never know how to get out from underneath it,” he added.

Someone’s a bit grouchy.

Cohen continued, telling the Beast that

there is nothing reasonable about you wanting to write a story about somebody’s usage of the word ‘rape,’ when she’s talking [about] she didn’t feel emotionally satisfied.”

“Though there’s many literal senses to the word, if you distort it, and you put Mr. Trump’s name there onto it, rest assured, you will suffer the consequences. So you do whatever you want. You want to ruin your life at the age of 20? You do that, and I’ll be happy to serve it right up to you,” he added.

Given that the Beast ran the story, and we’re talking about it now, it kind of, sort of, appears that Cohen’s Trumpian lawyering backfired a little bit. And that’s a very good thing, because this is a story that needs to be re-aired.

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Flint
Flint
9 years ago

You know, even if Donald happens to be 100% innocent, his lawyer acting in a unprofessional manner. Couldn’t he have just said “My client denies the claims made against him by the Daily Beast”?

Anisky
Anisky
9 years ago

He claimed all the Jewish people agreed with his comment? Like, all the Jewish people in what sense?

All the Jewish people he talked to about it? (Has he talked to any Jews about his comment?)

All the Jewish people in the world agreed with it? Because I can prove that wrong right now. I am a Jewish person who completely disagrees with his comment. Thus there exists a Jewish person who disagrees with his comment. Therefore, not all Jewish people agree with his comment. QED.

74% of American Jews voted for Obama in 2008, and 70% voted for him in 2012, so after four years of Obama in office 7 out of 10 American Jews still liked him. Even if every Jew who didn’t vote for Obama in 2012 and 30% of those who did all believed that Obama would “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven”, you would only just barely get a majority of American Jews agreeing with your statement. Which wouldn’t even be the same thing as “all” at, well, all.

Why do Republicans always think Jews are on their side? We’re not. We’re really, really not. Yes, you’re the party that supports Israel much more strongly, but Jews still don’t like you. Exit polls have had Jews voting around 70% Democrat/ 30% Republican since exit polling began, and that +40 Democratic split is actually even wider if you control for socio-economic status. (Sorry, yes, that is a stereotype, but it’s also statistically supported. I’d link to it here, but my computer is going really slowly and I’m getting like 2-5 minutes of rainbow pinwheel whenever I try to open a new window. If you really want me to link to sources, I can restart my computer and hope that it gets better.)

Inspector Spacetime
Inspector Spacetime
9 years ago

“Donald Trump has previously denied the allegation. In the book, he denies having had the scalp reduction surgery.

‘It’s obviously false,’ Donald Trump said of the accusation in 1993, according to Newsday. ‘It’s incorrect and done by a guy without much talent… He is a guy that is an unattractive guy who is a vindictive and jealous person.'”

Anybody else get the impression he’s more upset about being accused of bald spot surgery than of rape?

Anisky
Anisky
9 years ago

@Tilikum Did you read the part where part of her divorce settlement is a GAG ORDER and if she talks about any of this in a way not approved by Trump, she could lose everything?

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

Wait, wait, hang on.

Is Michael Cohen Trump’s lawyer? Because both the Daily Beast article linked here and another describe him as a campaign manager for Trump’s presidential run. I’m so confused…

Delphi_ote, what was the article where they through Cohen under the bus? Because he most certainly is affiliated with the presidential campaign.

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

Anisky,
Well, to be fair he didn’t say “all the” that was my hyperbole. He said “the response from Jewish people has been overwhelmingly positive.” Which I guess he means he talked to Sheldon Adelson or some other right wing Jewish person and assumed they were speaking for all Jews.
http://gawker.com/mike-huckabee-jews-loved-my-holocaust-tweet-1720591060

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

Or, at least appears to be… The exact words were “special counsel.” Which is still pretty up there in terms of affiliation with Trump.

katz
katz
9 years ago

Given what Cohen said to the Daily Beast, it seems extremely likely that Ivana has also been threatened and intimidated into changing her story.

When someone makes contradictory statements, which do you believe? Not the one she made later that happens to agree with the person who has a huge amount of power over her.

Tilikum
9 years ago

@ Aniisky

“@Tilikum Did you read the part where part of her divorce settlement is a GAG ORDER and if she talks about any of this in a way not approved by Trump, she could lose everything?”

Whoa. Are you suggesting that Ms. Trump the former willfully signed a legal document where she agreed to her silence of his criminality for money?? To preserve her lifestyle?

Jesus that’s some craven shaming if that’s what you are suggesting!

I prefer to trust women and their choices and take them at face value, thanks.

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

As a woman, I choose to call you a fucking asshole, Tilikum.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

Hell, as an empathetic human being, I’m calling Tilikum a fucking asshole.

Anisky
Anisky
9 years ago

@Tilikum

“Her divorce involved a gag order that keeps her from talking about her marriage to Donald Trump without his permission.”

Not “suggesting” anything. Just stating a fact. And I’m not shaming anyone– you’re the one suggesting that someone signing divorce papers that involve a gag order because that’s her best option is something shameful.

Anisky
Anisky
9 years ago

“Hey, she said it was fine. What? You’re suggesting that she lied just because someone had a gun to her head? I choose to trust women. The gun to her head has no relevance to what she says. You’re being offensive by claiming that she would lie to preserve her life.”

Agreed– as a woman and an empathetic human being (gasp), I say Tilikum is an asshole.

Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
9 years ago

Also, don’t forget that Huckabee said this.

A racist scam artist, domestic abuser and rapist vs an anti-Semitic, transphobic paedophilia apologist: But the GOP isn’t bigoted!!!1

Anisky
Anisky
9 years ago

Wonder if @Tilikum’s stance of “I trust women” extends to the forty-some women who say Bill Cosby raped them?

Tilikum
9 years ago

I’m an asshole or Ms.Trump can’t be trusted? Those choices are what you took from my plea to trust the judgement of women in thier own lives?

Wow. Just wow. What the hell kinda weird upside down world am I in???? Hell, I’d trust her judgement anywhere.

“Although the settlement remains sealed by the courts it is rumored that Ivana received $20 million, the $14 million family estate in Connecticut, a $5 million housing allowance, $350,000 annual alimony, all of her jewelry and 49% of Mar-A-Lago, the family home in Palm Beach which also serves as a private club for the …”

Moocow
Moocow
9 years ago

@Tilikum

I choose to trust women only when they say things I agree with

FIFY

Tilikum
9 years ago

Yes Anisky it does. Camille Paglia hit that right on the head re: Cosby’s proclivity to a pseudo necrophilia.

Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
Scented Fucking Hard Chairs
9 years ago

Also, Tilikum, you’ve fallen into the same trap as many a dipshit before you:

If you want to troll successfully, don’t use the same username and avatar here as you use on Chateau Heartiste. Google is a thing that exists.

Reality is amoral. You want to control shitty social behavior then actively discriminate against liberals and minorities. (I do, hell, I will not do business with blacks, Hispanics, leftoids or females AT ALL. Turns out people that wanna hire me ended up liking that)

… Unless you want me to find comments of yours such as this.

weirwoodtreehugger
9 years ago

Trollicum,
You’re still avoiding the topic of Cohen’s assertion that marital rape is impossible. That was what the post was about.

Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
Pandapool -- The Species that Endangers YOU (aka Banana Jackie Cake, for those who still want to call me "Banana", "Jackie" or whatever)
9 years ago

@Tilikum

It’s amazing that you don’t understand that Trump likely blackmailed the shit out of her and used his money as a silencing tactic. Look how fucking sue happy he is – you don’t think he would drag her through the court system and do everything in his power to fuck up her life if she outright says he raped her? The gag order was signed so they could legally drag her through shit and have her living on the streets if it was ever broken, not that Trump wouldn’t do that to her if she didn’t sign it anyway.

You’re a fucking asshole if you don’t fucking understand this shit.

Aunt Edna
Aunt Edna
9 years ago

In case y’all are unfamiliar with Trollicum, he’s a faithful manurespherian fond of saying, among other memorable things, that women, unlike men, are fungible animals, and relating to them is akin to husbandry. He’s one of the nastiest misogynist assholes in the ‘sphere, so of course he’d exhort to ‘trust women’ in this case, lol.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

@Tilikum:

Look, I’m gonna have to be blunt here, because you seem to be willfully misunderstanding. Ivana testified in court that Trump basically raped her, although she said that she wouldn’t characterize the scenario as rape in the legal sense. This is the story that was shared in the Daily Beast article. Today, she claims that that story, based on her own testimony and her own words, that that story is “totally without merit.”

Two things to consider.

One, this new statement is coming 30 years after the incident, under the context of Trump lashing out against the Daily Beast for bringing this story up. It is extremely likely that Ivana was either under some sort of pressure to say certain things, due to Trump’s wealth, power, and position of running for president. It is also extremely likely that Ivana herself, who expressed the desire not to label her experience as “rape in the legal sense,” just doesn’t want to have to go through all that shit again.

Two, “trusting women” as you claim to want to do in this situation does not help when the same woman makes seemingly opposite claims about the same situation. Saying you believe her most recent statement necessarily means you disbelieve her original testemony. The situation is not as simple as you’re trying to make it look with your ridiculous “well I just think we should trust women, isn’t that something you all like to do? Trust women?”

There’s a very clear narrative, that makes no surprises and does not accuse anyone of really lying, and that’s one where Ivana’s original testemony is true. For all your repititions of “trust women,” your conclusion is that she lied.

kirbywarp
kirbywarp
9 years ago

Welp. Tilikum’s history just adds to the strength of my previous “asshole” comment.

Aunt Edna
Aunt Edna
9 years ago

Tillicum, what gives — slow day on The Irrational Male?

You are full of shit. Your credibility on anything concerning women is exactly zero. Go mentally masturbate in places where your kind is welcome. This is not one of them.