Jeff Flake Won't Support Trump, Bible Believing Christians should learn something

I will be happier to hear 80% of American evangelicals say they will not vote for Trump.  If not, 51% would suffice.  That great majority of American evangelical, most consider ourselves Christians and others not, support for Donald Trump put a blot on Christianity.  It shows we don't have the faith, the patience, and the wisdom to create a semblance of God's kingdom in our society.  Instead, we prefer the force of state to achieve our political ends.

Jeff Flake's Mormonism sense of decency and comity would be something we evangelicals ought to learn from.  While Mormon children memorize the song "Choose the Right" us evangelicals learned "Jesus Loves Me".  We may deny it, but evangelical culture is very self-centered.  In our worship we praise God and sang how great He is and how He loves and protects us to the point of tears.  We hardly do "What will Jesus do?" even though some years back we claimed that as mantra.  Apparently the mantra proved too difficult and we conveniently discarded it.  We revel in prosperity gospel that worship mammon.  We love and revel in worldly power.  That's why we had no problem cast our lot with Donald Trump in spite of his crassness.  In so many ways in the last forty years we had already immersed ourselves in crassness but won't admit it.  So in spite of casting Mormonism as a cult, we should learn this element from the Mormon culture which we direly lacked.

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Former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake says he will not vote for Trump
Kaelan Deese

Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said in a new interview that he will not vote for President Trump in November, citing concerns going back before the 2016 campaign.

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"I just couldn't support [Trump] long before he started to run. The birtherism thing was just too much for me. And then it piled on," Flake, a frequent critic of the president, told The Washington Post.

Flake also said that a second Trump term could turn younger voters away from the Republican Party, pointing to issues including immigration and the environment.

"So for young people who've grown up around minorities or had a different experience than a lot of us in my generation, they don't harbor, I think, some of the prejudices that people in my generation do," Flake said.

He added that a Trump defeat in November would be a "long-term" benefit for the Republican Party and "conservatism as well."

"This won't be the first time I've voted for a Democrat — though not for president. Last time I voted for a third-party candidate," he said. "But I will not vote for Donald Trump."

He also predicted that the GOP would change once Trump is out of the Oval Office.

"The pendulum swings when one party takes it too far," he said. "We'll be ourselves again."

Flake, 57, served in the U.S. Senate from 2013 to 2019, and was in the House of Representatives for six terms prior to that.

As a senator, he criticized Trump on multiple issues, including the president's negative comments about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2015.

Flake was also "shocked" to find out his friend and former House colleague, Mike Pence, was nominated as Trump's running mate in 2016, according to Politico.

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Flake’s Speech Bore Marks of Mormon Faith, Not Just Politics

By Laurie Goodstein, October 25, 2017

Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, with reporters after announcing in the Senate on Tuesday that he would not run for re-election.Credit...

As a child growing up in Snowflake, Ariz., a town that his Mormon pioneer great-great-grandfather helped found in the 1870s, Senator Jeff Flake learned to sing a popular children’s hymn, “Choose the Right.”

He had no trouble recalling the hymn’s words on the telephone Wednesday, a day after he took to the floor of the Senate to deliver a stinging rebuke to his party and president, and to announce that he would not run for re-election in 2018.

His decision was political and pragmatic, he acknowledged: he faced a tough primary battle and trailed in the polls. But his revulsion at President Trump also appeared to reflect his Mormon faith. It is a faith that puts a premium on decorum and comity, one that was born in America but is increasingly international and multicultural, and one whose young people often wear rings engraved “CTR” as a reminder of the hymn, which begins, “Choose the right when a choice is placed before you.”

Mormons are also accustomed to testifying in public at monthly meetings, sometimes offering passionate stories of personal revelation.

“We are taught that we ought to stand up for what we know is right, and also to be decent,” Mr. Flake said in the telephone interview. “I hope I’m acting on the faith that I believe in.”

Mr. Flake came out early in the presidential primaries as an opponent of Mr. Trump, and unlike many in his party, he has remained a vocal critic, despite representing a state where the president is still popular. Although he has generally voted with Mr. Trump and the Republican majority in the Senate, he chastised his party on Tuesday for acquiescing in the lying and divisiveness that he said had come from the White House.

“Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as ‘telling it like it is,’ when it is actually just reckless, outrageous and undignified,” Mr. Flake said in his 17-minute floor speech. “And when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is something else. It is dangerous to a democracy.”

Steve Evans, a Salt Lake City lawyer who writes about Mormon topics on the website By Common Consent, said it was no coincidence that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints like Mr. Flake and Mitt Romney would be among “the major headliners of anti-Trumpism.”

“This is borne out of a strong sense of personal morality, but also out of a cultural sense of decorum,” Mr. Evans said. “Mormons are prudes both privately and publicly. But there is also strong scriptural teaching behind it all. The Book of Mormon warns the reader that America is a choice land, that we must be careful in choosing our leaders, and the judgments of God can come on a people that choose evil leaders. Religious teachings like these may be informing their worldview.”

In Pointed Speech, Jeff Flake Says He Won’t Seek Re-election

Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said he would be leaving the Senate at the end of his term because to stay would cause him to compromise too many of his principles.

Mr. Trump’s candidacy for president ran into considerable antipathy in heavily Mormon Utah, where Republican candidates usually coast to victory. Evan McMullin, a Mormon and a former C.I.A. officer and policy director for House Republicans who ran as an independent in 2016, received 21 percent of the vote in the state. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, won 27 percent, so altogether, more Utahans voted against Mr. Trump (48 percent) than for him (45 percent).

Max Perry Mueller, an assistant professor of American religion at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he heard so many religious overtones in Mr. Flake’s speech that he plans to set aside his next planned lesson for the American religious history class he teaches, and instead have his students deconstruct the senator’s remarks “as a Mormon speech.”

Professor Mueller said the speech reminded him of the cadence, tone and themes that Mormon leaders often use when addressing the church’s vast general conference meetings in Salt Lake City, calling on members to refuse to accommodate the immorality of the larger world.

“That speech reflects a Mormon understanding of human agency and participation in history, that humans bring about change, and move the world towards perfection,” said Professor Mueller, the author of “Race and the Making of the Mormon People.”

In one passage near the end of his speech, Mr. Flake said: “This spell will eventually break. That is my belief. We will return to ourselves once more, and I say, the sooner the better. Because we have a healthy government, we must also have healthy and functioning parties. We must respect each other again in an atmosphere of shared facts and shared values, comity and good faith. We must argue our positions fervently and never be afraid to compromise.”

In the telephone interview, Mr. Flake spoke of his deep involvement with his church, of serving as a missionary in South Africa and Zimbabwe in the 1980s, and of rarely missing a Sunday service with his family in Mesa, Ariz., over his 17 years in Congress.

But he emphasized that he did not want to imply that he received any direction in his political choices from his church or its leaders. Doug Andersen, a spokesman for the church, said it had a longstanding policy of political neutrality and would make no comment.

For the note of optimism that he struck at the end of his floor speech, Mr. Flake said he drew on a family motto that his parents had posted on the refrigerator at home: “Assume the best, always look for the good.”

“That certainly is informed by our faith,” he said, “and who we ought to be.”

He said he had to remind himself that in the end, what will matter more than his status or his job will be choosing what is right, as the hymn says.

“That’s what I’ve tried to do,” he said. “I don’t always succeed.”

Evangelicals Love Inveterate Liars (as long as they play evangelical politics)

We evangelicals are out to conquer the world.  The more people we can get the altar calls and increase the number of baptisms, the more we believe we are achieving the kingdom of heaven on earth.  The more conservative judges we can get from President Trump, it doesn't matter he lies, prevaricates, or fornicates, we got what we want and if we could make him a saint, we would.  Since we are not Roman Catholics, he won't be a saint but he will be among our pantheon of great men.

Since our causes are pure and holy, our sanctification will be his santification.  We Scripture reading Christians are sure Jesus Christ will justify him in his judgment because of the wonderful and terrific things he had done for God's kingdom.  Donald Trump is God's broken vessel to carry His water.  He can be unstable and change his opinion one day to another, hour-to-hour, as long as he's stable on those things we care about.  So he can cheat or lie as much as he wants and it's fine with us.  We designated him to carry our water.  If bigger lies or wild claims he made could give us more judges or making more troubles for those God-forsaken abortionists and streaking homosexual perverts, God will bless him and bless us because we are doing God's works.  Hallelujah!!!

My evangelical brethren, confess and repent!!!
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Trump continues to refuse to accept the deadliness of the coronavirus pandemic
Philip Bump

The best known comment President Trump made during his Feb. 28 campaign rally in South Carolina was that criticism of his handling of the quietly spreading coronavirus in the United States was a “hoax” being perpetrated by his Democratic opponents. But in retrospect, Trump’s most telling remarks that evening — two months ago Tuesday — were about the threat the virus might pose to his constituents.

“Thirty-five thousand people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that?” Trump said to the crowd. “Thirty-five thousand, that’s a lot of people. It could go to 100,000. It could be 20,000. They say usually a minimum of 27, goes up to 100,000 people a year die — and so far we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the United States.”

“Nobody,” he added. “And it doesn’t mean we won’t, and we are totally prepared. It doesn’t mean we won’t. But think of it, you hear 35 and 40,000 people, and we’ve lost nobody. You wonder if the press is in hysteria mode.”

That didn’t hold for long. The next day, Trump held his second briefing on the novel coronavirus in the White House press briefing room. 

“Unfortunately, one person passed away overnight,” Trump said. “She was a wonderful woman — a medically high-risk patient in her late fifties.”

The first death was actually a man; the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would later take responsibility for Trump’s misstatement. More important was how quickly the presentation Trump made to his supporters crumbled. That man in Washington state died hours after Trump publicly hailed the lack of any fatalities as a sign of how well his administration was doing.

This has been repeated over and over, with Trump downplaying the death toll of the pandemic to boast about how good a job he’s been doing. Monday was a stark example, as Trump casually tacked an additional 10,000 deaths onto his projected total, increasing it from between 50,000 and 60,000 a week ago to 60,000 to 70,000 now.

More than 14,000 people have died of the virus in the past seven days.

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Trump’s first effort to downplay the number of people who might die of the virus came a few days before that South Carolina rally. On Feb. 26, the White House coronavirus task force held its first briefing on the pandemic.

It was then that he first drew the comparison to the seasonal flu, which, even with vaccines and a number of immune individuals in the population, can still kill tens of thousands of people a year.

“I want you to understand something that shocked me when I saw it that — and I spoke with [task force member Anthony S.] Fauci on this, and I was really amazed, and I think most people are amazed to hear it: The flu, in our country, kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year. That was shocking to me,” Trump said. “And, so far, if you look at what we have with the 15 people [with the virus] and their recovery, one is — one is pretty sick but hopefully will recover, but the others are in great shape. But think of that: 25,000 to 69,000.”

Later, he emphasized just how limited the spread of the coronavirus was in the United States.

“When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” he said.

As he spoke, The Washington Post was reporting the first demonstrated instance of “community spread” of the virus: transmission not linked to a known case, suggesting that it was spreading in the wild in California. Eventually, we would learn that by the time of the Feb. 26 briefing, multiple people in that state had already died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

By early March, nearly two dozen people had died of the virus. Trump reiterated his comparison between the flu and covid-19.

Within four days, that death toll had doubled. In another four days, it doubled again.

By that point, the political landscape had shifted, with former vice president Joe Biden effectively ending the Democratic presidential primary with a string of lopsided wins. Trump seized upon the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic as a point of criticism for Biden, who was then vice president.

Biden was not in charge of the H1N1 response. But, again, Trump is contrasting the 63 deaths that had then resulted from covid-19 with the toll from the 2009 pandemic, hoping that his own response would look good by comparison.

What’s important to remember, though, is that Trump’s presentation of the H1N1 death toll is misleading in two ways. The first is that the estimated toll wasn’t 17,000 but about 12,500 — though the range of possible deaths was from about 9,000 to about 18,000. That’s the second way in which the comparison is misleading. The total toll was a function of an after-the-fact estimate from the CDC, using epidemiological tools to track how many people died of H1N1 given the uncertainties involved in counting each individual death. This is standard practice; Trump’s estimates of seasonal flu death tolls are similarly based on annual estimates of the death toll.

In other words, Trump was comparing apples and oranges — and, as the weeks have passed, he’s kept doing exactly that.

On March 31, Trump for the first time acknowledged that the toll from the coronavirus pandemic would be significant. During the day’s briefing, task force member Deborah Birx explained that modeling of the spread of the virus indicated that some 100,000 to 220,000 people would die if the country adhered to strict distancing measures. That was a lot of fatalities, but far better than the 1.5 million to 2.2 million who might have died had no measures been enacted.

President Trump stands next to a graph during the daily coronavirus task force briefing on March 31

Trump was quick to highlight how bad things might have been.

“The question is: What would have happened if we did nothing? … And that number comes in at 1.5 to 1.6 million people, up to 2.2 and even beyond. So that’s 2.2 million people would have died if we did nothing, if we just carried on our life,” Trump said. “You’re talking about 2.2. million deaths — 2.2 million people from this. And so, if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 — that’s a horrible number — maybe even less, but to 100,000; so we have between 100- and 200,000 — we all, together, have done a very good job.”

At the time Trump spoke, the death toll stood at somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 deaths. Four days later, it would double once again.

There was a bit of good news in early April, though. One of the leading models of the number of deaths that might result from the virus revised its estimate downward from nearly 90,000 to just over 60,000. Trump was quick to embrace that number as the new expected target.

“The minimum number was 100,000 lives,” Trump said of the prior estimates, “and I think we’ll be substantially under that number.”

“Hard to believe that if you had 60,000 [deaths], you could never be happy, but that’s a lot fewer than we were originally told and thinking,” Trump said. “So they said between 100 and 220,000 lives on the minimum side, and then up to 2.2 million lives if we didn’t do anything. But it showed a just tremendous resolve by the people of this country.”

“We did the right thing,” he added later, “because maybe it would have been 2 million people died instead of whatever that final number will be, which could be 60, could be 70, could be 75, could be 55.”

This was the first time in April that Trump suggested the death toll could fall under 60,000. It’s not clear why he did so, but it does seem likely that his revised estimate derived from the revision to the model produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

As we explained last week, though, Trump’s repeated insistence that the death toll might only be 60,000 was again a misunderstanding of the numbers in at least two ways. One was that the IMHE model only projects deaths until August, meaning that a resurgence of the coronavirus in the fall and winter — or a second wave at any time — isn’t included in its tally. The second is that the model is variable, dependent upon new data and estimates.

As it stands, for example, the IMHE model projects more than 74,000 deaths by the end of May.

Even last Monday, with the toll at more than 40,000 and the country seeing more than 1,700 new deaths a day on average, Trump insisted that the total number of deaths might be held near 50,000.

“But we did the right thing, because if we didn’t do it, you would have had a million people, a million and a half people, maybe 2 million people dead,” Trump said at the day’s briefing. “Now, we’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people."

“One is too many. I always say it: One is too many,” he added. “But we’re going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That’s at the lower — as you know, the low number was supposed to be 100,000 people. We could end up at 50 to 60.”

By the end of the week, the country had passed 50,000 deaths.

During Monday’s briefing, Trump was asked if he deserved reelection, given that the number of deaths from the coronavirus in the past six weeks was nearing the total number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.

“Yeah, we’ve lost a lot of people,” Trump conceded. “But if you look at what original projections were, 2.2 million, we’re probably heading to 60,000, 70,000. It’s far too many; one person is too many for this. And I think we’ve made a lot of really good decisions.”

This was the same argument he made two months ago on Feb. 28.

Would Jesus Unfreeze Sanctions During Virus?

It took me moments of hesitation getting to agree with the former U.N. aid chief.  My affirmation comes only when I asked "What would Jesus Do?"  Yes, Jesus would agree for ease in sanction.  Jesus would be for ease in human suffering.  Then I ask myself what would Focus on the Family or Southern Baptist Convention would do.  I definitely know they will say no.  They will say this issue is not a priority in their organizations so the best they'll come up with is no comment.  My assessment on the state of American evangelism spiritually is pretty sad.  The cultural ecosystem does not allow for universal love nor human justice.  The system stresses agape love, but only for the people within the issues it cares about.  Jesus would cry.

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Big powers urged to freeze sanctions on Syria, Iran, Venezuela during virus

Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) - Major powers must suspend economic sanctions against countries including Syria, Iran and Venezuela during the coronarivus pandemic which threatens to worsen hunger and suffering for the poor, an international refugee charity said on Tuesday.

Jan Egeland

Jan Egeland, a former U.N. aid chief who now heads the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said that despite sanctions exemptions for medical and food supplies, aid groups still face hurdles to help vulnerable people during the health crisis.

“My main message is that the abject poverty and hunger tsunami that comes in the wake of the pandemic is in many poor places going to be worse I think, I fear, than the virus may be,” Egeland told a virtual news briefing in Geneva.

After battering China, Western Europe and the United States, infections and deaths from COVID-19 are now rising in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and some Asian countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

“What we are asking for is the lifting of economic sanctions on entire peoples, nations really,” Egeland said, in reference to the largely U.S.- and European Union-led punitive sanctions generally aimed at squeezing trade or freezing assets.

“I am not talking about targeted sanctions against elites, or leaders or military sanctions, or sanctions on atomic energy or whatever,” he added.

“Sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, Syria and elsewhere may have all sorts of good motives, but it is undeniably making it more difficult for us to work, to serve ordinary people in this age of the coronavirus.”

In Syria, sanctions had stopped the NRC from acquiring software for online children’s education programmes, Egeland said, complaining that procedures for humanitarian exemptions were often too slow and bureaucratic.

“All sorts of private companies including banks that we need to help us to do our work in these countries, are risk-adverse, and it makes it difficult for us to work,” he said.

“Basically the blanket economic sanctions have to have a moratorium, a suspension, a pause - call it the coronavirus pause,” he said.

Egeland said he had sent “strong letters” to 40 nations and UN agencies that donate to the NRC which deploys nearly 15,800 aid workers helping refugees and internally displaced.

“I urged them to step up international funding and relief and be much more flexible and unbureaucratic and less micro-managing than they have been because we’re in the middle of a hurricane and we’re trying to manoeuvre,” he said.

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne


Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Allegations Against Joe Biden (Trump/Biden Sexual Battle Royals)

Okay, this will be an interesting proposition on the presumptive Democratic candidate.  Hold Senate and House hearings on this.  Let Biden's accusers show up.  To show fairness and symmetry, as Mitch McConnell proposed, we will get all Donald Trump's  accusers show up as well.  So right now it's Saint Joseph lining with Dapper Don.  The House Hearing will be chaired by the Indomitable Nancy Pelosi and Senate Hearing by the Grim Reaper Mitch McConnell himself.

In terms of hormone, I bet Dapper Don beat Saint Joseph anytime.  So we are going to bring in Tara Reade testifies about Saint Joseph, then we have Stormy Daniels, Jean Carroll, and company doing their testimonies.  This ought to give some great entertainment to our dreary coronavirus life, better than reality TVs.

We can call this election show of battle royals of senior testosterone.  Trump vs. Bidens.  Poor St. Joseph would lose badly, his side will carry a sad looking squad versus Dapper Don Trump's battalion royals with Stormy as the battalion commander and whomever President Trump put his hands into.  Not a fair match!

Donald with Stormy

Stormy felt bad for Melania

Donald Trump with Playmates

Jose Biden/Tara Reade

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A Running List Of The Women Who’ve Accused Donald Trump Of Sexual Misconduct
All their stories in one place.

By Catherine Pearson, Emma Gray, and Alanna Vagianos

On Oct. 8, 2016, The Washington Post published footage from 2005 of serial misogynist Donald Trump bragging that as a famous man, he can get away with anything. Like kissing women without waiting for permission. And grabbing women by the pussy. Trump has defended these comments, repeatedly, as “locker room talk.” When pressed by Anderson Cooper during the second presidential debate, he said that he absolutely had not sexually assaulted women.

But since Trump’s remarks emerged ― and well before then ― women have shared their allegations of sexual abuse against the Republican presidential nominee. 

Trump and his administration have repeatedly denied all of the accusations, tweeting that women he didn’t know were making “false accusations.” In October 2017, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that all of Trump’s accusers were lying.

Below is a working list of women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. These alleged incidents span more than three decades, from the early 1980s to 2016, and are presented here based on the date they became public.

*  *  *

1. Karen Johnson

Her account: Johnson alleged that Trump grabbed her vagina without her consent and forcibly kissed her at a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in the early 2000s. The allegation was first revealed in journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy’s book, “All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator,” excerpted by Esquire. 

“When he says that thing, ‘Grab them in the pussy,’ that hits me hard because when he grabbed me and pulled me into the tapestry, that’s where he grabbed me ― he grabbed me there in my front and pulled me in,” Johnson told Levine and El-Faizy.

Trump’s response: N/A

When we found out: Oct. 9, 2019

When she says it happened: Early 2000s

*  *  *

2. E. Jean Carroll

Her account: In an excerpt of her memoir published in New York magazine, Carroll, a longtime Elle magazine advice columnist, alleged that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

The then-real estate mogul spotted Carroll, then 52, at Bergdorf Goodman. Recognizing her as “that advice lady,” he asked if she would help him buy a gift for an unnamed woman. Carroll agreed, and after browsing gifts, Trump allegedly led her to the lingerie section. He suggested that she try on a lace bodysuit, and after expressing reservations, she reluctantly agreed.

“The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips,” she wrote. Trump then held her against a wall and began pulling down her tights, according to Carroll.

“The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me,” she wrote.

Trump’s response: In a statement to New York magazine, the White House said: “This is a completely false and unrealistic story surfacing 25 years after allegedly taking place and was created simply to make the President look bad.”

Trump later responded in a longer statement, accusing Carroll of fabricating “false stories of assault” for publicity, and attacked New York magazine as “a dying publication [trying to] prop itself up by peddling fake news.”

He also falsely claimed that “I’ve never met this person in my life,” despite a picture of Carroll and Trump at a party that was included in the book excerpt.

When we found out: June 21, 2019

When she says it happened: The fall of 1995 or spring of 1996 

*  *  *

3. Alva Johnson

Her account: Johnson, a former staffer on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, told The Washington Post that the president kissed her without her consent outside of a rally in Florida on August 24, 2016. “I immediately felt violated because I wasn’t expecting it or wanting it,” Johnson said. “I can still see his lips coming straight for my face.” She said she turned her face away from Trump’s kiss, which landed on the side of her mouth, telling the Post that it felt “super-creepy and inappropriate.” Johnson filed a federal lawsuit on Feb. 25, 2016, seeking unspecified damages for emotional pain and suffering. 

Trump’s response: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to Johnson’s accusation, calling it “absurd on its face.”

When we found out: Feb. 25, 2019

When she says it happened: August 2016 

*  *  *

4. Ninni Laaksonen

Her account: Laaksonen, a former Miss Finland, told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat that Trump groped her in July 2006 while she was in New York competing in the Miss Universe pageant. She says the incident occurred right before she and three other contestants, along with Trump, appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” “Trump stood right next to me and suddenly he squeezed my butt,” she told Ilta-Sanomat. “He really grabbed my butt. I don’t think anybody saw it but I flinched and thought: ‘What is happening?’” Laaksonen also says that at a party she attended during that time, she was told by another guest that Trump liked her “because [she] looked like Melania when she was younger.”

Trump’s response: Trump did not dispute this allegation specifically, but has denied the broader accusations that he walked into pageant changing rooms unannounced. 

When we found out: Oct. 27, 2016

When she says it happened: 2006

*  *  *

5. Jessica Drake

Her account: Drake, an adult film actor and director, said in a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred that Trump grabbed her, kissed her without her consent and offered her $10,000 to have sex with him at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament. She said that she met Trump at a booth for her employer at the time, Wicked Pictures, where Trump flirted with her and asked for her number. According to Drake, later that night he invited her to his penthouse suite. She said she brought along two other women because she “didn’t feel right going alone.” During the press conference, Drake said that Trump “grabbed each of us tightly in a hug and kissed each one of us without asking for permission.” Drake said he was wearing pajamas and there was a body guard present. Later that night, Drake said a man called her on Trump’s behalf to ask her to dinner, but she declined. According to Drake, Trump then called her directly and, after she declined again, asked: “What do you want? How much?” Drake said in the press conference that she declined once more, then received a call from a man on behalf of Trump offering her $10,000 and the use of his private jet to “accept his invitation.” 

Trump’s response: The campaign issued a statement calling Drake’s allegations “false and ridiculous.”

“The picture is one of thousands taken out of respect for people asking to have their picture taken with Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump does not know this person, does not remember this person and would have no interest in ever knowing her,” the campaign said, calling Drake’s announcement “just another example of the Clinton campaign trying to rig the election.” Also, during a policy speech on Saturday morning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Trump threatened to sue all the women who have accused the candidate of sexual assault. 

When we found out: Oct. 22, 2016

When she says it happened: 2006

*  *  * 

6. Karena Virginia

Her account: Virginia said in a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred that Trump groped her while she was leaving the US Open in 1998. She said that she was waiting for a car to take her home when Trump approached her with a group of a few other men. According to Virginia he said, “Hey look at this one!” and “Look at those legs.” Virginia alleged that he then grabbed her right arm with his right arm, then touched the inside of her right breast before reportedly asking, “Don’t you know who I am?” Virginia said that her shock soon turned to shame and that she changed the way she dressed as a result of the encounter, hoping to avoid unwanted male attention. She was 27 at the time.

Trump’s response: A Trump campaign spokesperson denied the accusation in a statement to The Washington Post: “Voters are tired of these circuslike antics and reject these fictional stories and the clear efforts to benefit Hillary Clinton.”

When we found out: Oct. 20, 2016

When she says it happened: 1998

 *  *  *

7. Cathy Heller

Her account: Heller, now 63, told The Guardian that the first and only time she interacted with Trump, “he grabbed her, went for a kiss, and grew angry with her as she twisted away.” This was all while Heller was having Mother’s Day brunch at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband, in-laws and children. She alleges that Trump said, “Oh, come on” when she protested and held her still while he kissed her on the side of the mouth before walking away. A relative who was seated at the table that day confirmed to The Guardian that Trump was “very forceful” and got “in her face.”

Trump’s response: Trump campaign spokesperson Jason Miller told The Guardian: “There is no way that something like this would have happened in a public place on Mother’s Day at Mr. Trump’s resort. It would have been the talk of Palm Beach for the past two decades.”

When we found out: Oct. 15, 2016

When she says it happened: Around 1997 (Heller says she is not 100 percent sure)

 *  *  *

8. Summer Zervos

Her account: Zervos, a contestant on season five of “The Apprentice” (and a self-described Republican) said in a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred that Trump assaulted her on several occasions. She said the first time, she met with Trump in his office and he kissed her on the mouth, which Zervos rationalized as simply a strange greeting. On a separate occasion, she said she met with Trump at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss business opportunities. Instead Trump grabbed her while she sat next to him and began kissing her and touching her breasts, Zervos said in her statement. Trump later walked her into the bedroom, she told reporters, and “began thrusting his genitals.” The two did go on to have dinner and discuss real estate, according to Zervos. When asked why she chose to come forward now, she said: “I want to be able to sleep when I’m 70.” As of December 2017, Zervos is moving forward with a defamation lawsuit against Trump. 

Trump’s response: Trump denied Zervos’ allegation in a lengthy statement. ”I vaguely remember Ms. Zervos as one of the many contestants on The Apprentice over the years. To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how I’ve conducted my life,” Trump said in an October 2016 statement. “In fact, Ms. Zervos continued to contact me for help, emailing my office on April 14th of this year asking that I visit her restaurant in California.” (Head here to read the full statement.) 

When we found out: Oct. 14, 2016

When she says it happens: 2007

 *  *  *

9. Kristin Anderson

Her account: Anderson says she was out at a Manhattan nightclub with friends, sitting on a red velvet couch, when she felt Trump reach into her skirt and touch her vagina through her underwear, The Washington Post reports. She told the paper that the incident was brief, but that she and her friends were “very grossed out.” Anderson was in her early 20s at the time, and an aspiring model.

Trump’s response: A spokeswoman for Trump told The Washington Post that he “denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous.” It’s worth noting, though, that Anderson did not approach the Post with her story. She was contacted by a reporter who’d heard about her experience from other people, and reportedly deliberated for several days about whether or not to go public. 

When we found out: Oct. 14, 2016

When she says it happened: The early 1990s

*  *  *

10. Samantha Holvey

Her account: Holvey told CNN that while she was competing in the 2006 Miss USA pageant, Trump inspected each contestant before the pageant. “He would step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people. You know when a gross guy at the bar is checking you out? It’s that feeling,” she told CNN, adding that it was the “the dirtiest I felt in my entire life.” 

Trump’s response: Trump did not specifically dispute this allegation, but has denied the broader accusations that he walked into pageant changing rooms unannounced. 

When we found out: Oct. 14, 2016

When she says it happened: 2006

*  *  *

11. Lisa Boyne

Her account: Boyne told HuffPost that during the summer of 1996, Boyne, Trump, modeling agent John Casablancas and others went to dinner in Lower Manhattan. Boyne, who at the time worked at a think tank, said the women at the dinner were all sitting at a circular booth bookended by Trump and Casablancas. According to Boyne, the women could only exit the booth by walking on the table. She told HuffPost that Trump did not pursue her sexually, but asked her opinion on who at the table he should sleep with. 

Trump’s response: Hope Hicks responded to the allegation in a statement to HuffPost: “Mr. Trump never heard of this woman and would never do that.”

When we found out: Oct. 13, 2016

When she says it happened: 1996

*  *  *

12. Jessica Leeds

Her account: More than 30 years ago, Leeds was traveling for work when she sat next to Trump on a flight to New York. Leeds, who is now 74, told The New York Times that she and Trump spoke for a bit, then about 45 minutes into the flight he lifted the armrest between them and began to grab her breasts and put his hand up her skirt. “He was like an octopus,” she told The New York Times. “His hands were everywhere.”

Trump’s response: Trump vehemently denied the story. An attorney representing him has called upon The New York Times to retract it and has threatened to sue the publication. (The New York Times responded.)

When we found out: Oct. 12, 2016

When she says it happened: The early 1980s

 *  *  *

13. Rachel Crooks

Her account: Crooks says she was assaulted by Trump in an elevator while working as a receptionist for a real estate investment and development company in Trump Tower. She told The New York Times that upon meeting Trump, she introduced herself and shook his hand, but he would not let go. Trump began to kiss her on the cheeks, then directly on the mouth. “It was so inappropriate,” she told the Times. “I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.” Crooks was 22 at the time.

Trump’s response: See above.

When we found out: Oct. 12, 2016

When she says it happened: 2005

 *  *  *

14. Mindy McGillivray

Her account: McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that Trump groped her while she was attending a concert at Mar-a-Lago, his estate-slash-private-club in Palm Beach, Florida. She was there to help a friend who was photographing the concert, when she says Trump groped her. “All of a sudden I felt a grab, a little nudge. I think it’s Ken’s camera bag, that was my first instinct. I turn around and there’s Donald,” McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post. “This was a pretty good nudge. More of a grab,’’ she continued. “It was pretty close to the center of my butt. I was startled. I jumped.”

Trump’s response: A day after the account was published, CNN reported that Trump’s campaign was drafting a lawsuit against the paper.

When we found out: Oct. 12, 2016

When she says it happened: 2003

 *  *  *

15. Natasha Stoynoff

Her account: In a harrowing essay for People, Stoynoff ― a journalist ― described how Trump assaulted her while she was interviewing him and his wife, Melania, at their Palm Beach estate. She writes that Trump insisted on giving her a private tour of the grounds, at which point he pinned and kissed her: “Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds, he was pushing me against the wall, and forcing his tongue down my throat ... I was grateful when Trump’s longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.”

Trump’s response: At a campaign rally, Trump questioned her claims saying, “Look at her. ... I don’t think so.”

When we found out: Oct. 12, 2016

When she says it happened: 2005

 *  *  *

16. Jennifer Murphy

Her account: Murphy, a contestant on Season 4 of “The Apprentice,” told Grazia that Trump kissed her on the lips after a job interview. “He walked me to the elevator, and I said goodbye. ... When he pulled my face in and gave me a smooch. I was like ‘OK,’” she told Grazia. “I didn’t know how to act.” Murphy also told the publication that she still planned to vote for Trump.

Trump’s response: N/A

When we found out: Oct. 12, 2016

When she says it happened: 2005

 *  *  *

17. Mariah Billado 

Her account: Billado, a former Miss Teen USA contestant, told BuzzFeed that Trump walked into the changing room while the contestants were half-dressed. “I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here’” Billado said. She remembered Trump responding: “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ve seen it all before.” Billado was one of four former Miss Teen USA contestants to tell BuzzFeed the same story (the other three chose to stay anonymous). 

Trump’s response: In a statement to the Washington Post, a spokesperson for Trump denied all allegations that he walked into the changing room while women were naked. “These accusations have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present,” the statement read. “When you see questionable attacks like this magically put out there in the final month of a presidential campaign, you have to ask yourself what the political motivations are and why the media is pushing it.”

When we found out: Oct. 12, 2016

When she says it happened: 1997

 *  *  *

18. Tasha Dixon 

Her account: Dixon told CBS 2 Los Angeles that when she was 18 and competing in a Miss Universe pageant, Trump walked into the changing room while the participants were changing. “Our first introduction to him was when we were at the dress rehearsal and half naked changing into our bikinis,” Dixon said. “He just came strolling right in. There was no second to put a robe on or any sort of clothing or anything. Some girls were topless. Other girls were naked.”

Trump’s response: In a statement to the Washington Post, a spokesperson for Trump denied all allegations that he walked into the changing room while women were naked. “These accusations have no merit and have already been disproven by many other individuals who were present,” the statement read. “When you see questionable attacks like this magically put out there in the final month of a presidential campaign, you have to ask yourself what the political motivations are and why the media is pushing it.”

When we found out: Oct. 11, 2016

When she says it happened: 2001

*  *  *

19. Cassandra Searles 

Her account: Yahoo News reported that last summer, Cassandra Searles ― Miss Washington 2013 ― posted a photo on Facebook of her fellow contestants and the question: “Do y’all remember that one time we had to do our onstage introductions, but this one guy treated us like cattle and made us do it again because we didn’t look him in the eyes? Do you also remember when he then proceeded to have us lined up so he could get a closer look at his property?” In a follow-up comment on the post, she reportedly added: “He probably doesn’t want me telling the story about that time he continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room.”

Trump’s response: Trump did not specifically dispute this allegation, but has denied the broader accusations that he walked into pageant changing rooms unannounced. 

When we found out: June 2016

When she says it happened: Unclear, but possibly in 2013

 *  *  *

20. “Jane Doe” 

Her account: In June, a California woman — “Jane Doe” ― filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump raped her at a party when she was 13 years old. As Buzzfeed reported, an initial hearing in the case had been scheduled for December 2016. However, on Nov. 4 of that year ― several days after the attorney for “Jane Doe” announced a press conference, then abruptly canceled it at her client’s request ― she instructed her attorney to dismiss the lawsuit. 

Trump’s response: Trump has vigorously denied the claims, saying that the lawsuit was designed to smear his presidential campaign.

When we found out: June 2016

When she says it happened: 1994

*  *  * 

21. Bridget Sullivan

Her account: Sullivan, a former Miss Universe contestant, told BuzzFeed that Trump would hug her and give her “a squeeze that your creepy uncle would.” She added that before the Miss Universe contest in 2000, Trump came backstage to wish all of the contestants good luck. “The time that he walked through the dressing rooms was really shocking,” she said. “We were all naked.”

Trump’s response: Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks told BuzzFeed that some of the stories mentioned in BuzzFeed’s report “are totally false” and pointed to the fact that Trump has tweeted, “Nobody has more respect for women than Donald Trump!”

When we found out: May 18, 2016

When she says it happened: 2000

* * *

22. Temple Taggart McDowell

Her account: The year that Taggart McDowell was crowned Miss Utah, Trump had just taken ownership of the Miss USA pageant. She says that when she was first introduced to him, he kissed her. “He kissed me directly on the lips,” Taggart McDowell told The New York Times when she came forward with her story. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, gross.’ He was married to Marla Maples at the time … I was like ‘Wow, that’s inappropriate.’”

Trump’s response: Trump told NBC he doesn’t know who she is and denies he ever assaulted her. 

When we found out: May 2016

When she says it happened: 1997

 *  *  *

23. Jill Harth

Her account: Harth worked with Trump in the 1990s (she and her partner operated a competition called American Dream Calendar Girls), but it ended in a bitter legal battle. In a 1997 lawsuit, Harth alleged in court documents that Trump repeatedly sexually harassed her, at one point groping her under the table. (The documents were surfaced by The Boston Globe.) Though she eventually dropped that suit, she stands by her story. “How can people not believe me now?” she asked “Inside Edition” after footage of Trump emerged in which he said he can grab women by the pussy. 

Trump’s response: In a May New York Times article on Trump’s treatment of women that also included Harth’s account, Trump said it was, in fact, Harth who had pursued him. 

When we found out: April 2016

When she says it happens: 1993

 *  *  *

24. Ivana Trump

Her account: In a 1992 deposition during their divorce, Trump’s first wife described an incident in which she says her then-husband forced her to have sex with him. (Spousal rape is still rape.) The deposition came to light in the 1993 Trump biography Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump. Ivana later softened her claims, saying that she “felt violated” as the love and tenderness she was accustomed to from her husband was absent that night, but she was not accusing him of a crime. She followed-up with a statement obtained by CNN last June telling in which she said “the story is totally without merit.”

Trump’s response: He denies it ever took place. 

When we found out: 1993

When she says it happens: 1989

=======================

Trump allies highlight new claims regarding allegations against Biden

Matt Viser, Washington Post

Some allies of President Trump pointed Monday to new claims by a woman who said she was told about sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden decades ago, renewing attention to questions about the past behavior of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. 

Apparent corroboration surfaced this week for elements of two accusations made by Biden’s former Senate aide Tara Reade, one involving harassment and the second a sexual assault. Biden has not commented on the allegations, but his campaign has denied them and pointed to his record on women’s rights and the promotion of women in his offices.

Lynda LaCasse, who was one of Reade’s neighbors in California, where Reade moved after working for Biden, said in an interview with Business Insider published Monday that Reade told her in the mid-1990s that Biden had “put his hand up her skirt and he put his fingers inside her.”

Lorraine Sanchez, a former colleague of Reade’s in the office of a California state senator, also told the news outlet that Reade told her in the mid-1990s that she “had been sexually harassed by her former boss while she was in DC and as a result of her voicing her concerns to her supervisors, she was let go, fired.” Sanchez did not recall whether Reade mentioned Biden specifically, or whether she provided further details about the allegation.

In recent days, a 1993 call into Larry King’s CNN talk show also surfaced. In it, a woman whom Reade identified as her ­now-deceased mother called to report unspecified “problems” her daughter was having with her employer, whom she called “a prominent senator.” The caller said her daughter did not want to go public with her account “out of respect for” the unnamed senator.

Neither LaCasse nor Sanchez responded to messages left by The Washington Post on Monday. Reade made the harassment accusation last year, and she recently offered details of what she said was a sexual assault in a hallway somewhere on Capitol Hill.

The allegations have percolated for weeks, a period in which Biden has become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Three of Reade’s supervisors from the time, to whom Reade says she complained about Biden’s behavior, have said they don’t remember Reade or any complaints from her.

Biden’s campaign declined to comment on the news reports, pointing to previous statements from deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield, who said that while women’s accounts of wrongdoing should be examined, the one from Reade “absolutely did not happen.”

As part of an in-depth examination published two weeks ago, Reade had told The Post that she described the alleged assault soon afterward to a friend, to her brother, and to her mother.

Her friend corroborated Reade’s account of their conversation but declined to be named. Her brother, Collin Moulton, told The Post that she told him in 1993 that Biden had behaved inappropriately by touching her neck and shoulders. He said in a later text message to The Post that he recalled her telling him that Biden had put his hand “under her clothes.”

Biden has done several interviews since the assault allegations emerged but has yet to be asked about them. It has, however, been a topic for other top Democrats, including some of his potential running mates.

“I think this case has been investigated,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on MSNBC, pointing to her own work to make it easier to bring such cases forward. “I know the vice president as a major leader on domestic abuse. I worked with him on that.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who has said she was sexually assaulted while in college, was asked on NPR if she was concerned about the allegations.

“Well, I think women should be able to tell their stories. I think that it is important that these allegations are vetted, from the media to beyond. And I think that you know, it is something that no one takes lightly,” Whitmer said. “But it is also something that is, you know, personal. And so it’s hard to give you greater insight than that, not knowing more about the situation.” 

Trump has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual assault. He has denied all of the allegations. His son Donald Trump Jr. has repeatedly tweeted about the accusations against Biden in recent days. On Monday afternoon, he retweeted the Business Insider story.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that the allegations against Biden deserve to be scrutinized as much as those against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who during his nomination hearings was accused of a past assault.

“I think these things ought to be dealt with symmetrically,” ­McConnell said on Fox News Radio.

Reade worked in Biden’s Senate office from December 1992 until August 1993, according to employment records. She had initially said last year that Biden had put his hands on her shoulders and neck.

She said she complained to senior Biden aides about feeling uncomfortable, but not about sexual assault. She also said she filed a complaint with congressional human resources or personnel office, which could have triggered an alert to Biden’s office.

The Post interviewed a number of former Biden staffers who say the behavior Reade describes was not consistent with Biden’s behavior. Last spring, as Biden was preparing to run for president, about a half dozen women came forward with stories of unwanted touching or displays of affection. None alleged sexual assault. 

LaCasse told Business Insider that Reade tearfully told her about the alleged encounter in 1995 or 1996, when they were neighbors in a condominium complex in Morro Bay, Calif.

The Post confirmed they were neighbors during that period.

LaCasse said the allegations came on her radar again only recently when Reade contacted her and remarked that “this Joe Biden thing is coming up again.”

She said that she spoke with Reade about coming forward, “but she didn’t really ask me to come forward.”

LaCasse also said that she was planning to support Biden in the general election.

“I can’t stand Donald Trump, so I don’t want him to win,” she told Business Insider. “But this happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it.”

matt.viser@washpost.com

Alice Crites and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/trump-allies-highlight-new-claims-regarding-allegations-against-biden/ar-BB13hP8x?ocid=hplocalnews