GREENSBORO, N.C. — Donald Trump on Friday continued to defend himself against a mounting number of sexual assault allegations by seemingly mocking the appearance of some of his accusers, suggesting they are making the claims for fame, and warning that anyone could be accused of sexual assault – even President Obama.
“Some are doing it for, probably, a little fame,” Trump said during his rally here. The Republican nominee wondered aloud about the timing of the accusations – less than 30 days before the election – and called the accusations “phony,” “totally invented, fiction, 100 percent totally and completely fabricated.”
Supporters in the crowd shouted “we believe you” as he dismissed the allegations.
Trump went further to say he’d never met these people, despite one of the accusers, Natasha Stoynoff, having done an in-person interview with Trump and his wife Melania early in their marriage. Trump flatly called Stoynoff “a liar” and directed the crowd to “check out her Facebook page – you’ll understand."
Trump said another accuser, Jessica Leeds, who alleges Trump groped her on an airplane thirty years ago, “Would not be his first choice.”
“When you looked at that horrible woman last night,” Trump said in an apparent reference to her appearance on CNN, “you said, I don't think so, I don't think so. “
Trump also seemed to attack Hillary Clinton’s physical appearance, saying he “wasn’t impressed” when she walked out in front of him at the second debate.
And painting women as wild accusers who will say anything about anyone, the Republican nominee said that what women are saying falsely about him could also be said about Obama.
"Why doesn’t some woman come up and say what they say falsely about me? They could say it about him,” Trump said. "They could say it about anybody. They could say it about anybody. I’ll tell you what, he better be careful because they could say it about anybody.”
Trump’s rhetoric wasn’t the only heated piece of Friday’s outdoor rally here. One protester, brandishing an upside down American flag and raising his middle finger, approached the stage to have Trump point at him and say, “Get out.”
A Trump supporter, sporting a “gays for Trump” T-shirt, followed the protester and shoved him in tandem with other supporters who the protester encountered on his walk out. The original supporter then grabbed the protester, putting him in a headlock until law enforcement pulled them apart and escorted both parties out.
At one point Trump asked the crowd who here thought he shouldn’t talk about his sexual assault allegations. While most cheered him on for taking on his accusers head on, one woman’s voice half-shouted “I do.”
