After attending a press conference with Donald Trump earlier Sunday, three women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of rape and sexual harassment were seen in the audience at the town hall presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis. They were joined by a sexual assault survivor whose suspected attacker Hillary Clinton represented as a public defender.
The four women, Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and Kathy Shelton expressed their support for Trump and their anger towards the Clintons while speaking to the media before the debate started. Trump said little during the press conference, leaving most of the words to his guests.
Jones was the first of the three to accuse Bill Clinton of sexual harassment. Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, sued Clinton in 1994 for an alleged incident in 1991 in which Clinton exposed himself to her. Clinton agreed to a settlement with Jones for $850,000, but did not make a public apology.
Willey, a White House aide during the Clinton administration, accused Clinton of sexually assaulting her in the Oval Office during a “60 Minutes” interview in 1998. She also claims that Hillary Clinton attempted to discredit her. Willey’s accusation has never been verified in court.
Broaddrick, a former Arkansas nursing home administrator, accused Clinton of sexually assaulting her in 1978 during a 1999 interview on NBC’s “Dateline.” She sued Clinton in 1999, but the case was dismissed two years later. Broaddrick’s claims recently resurfaced after Trump retweeted several tweets from her defending the Republican candidate and attacking the Clintons. During Sunday’s press conference, she restated her stance on the election.
“Mr. Trump may have said some bad words but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any comparison.”
“They should all look at the fact that [Trump] is a good person,” added Jones.”He is not what other people are saying he’s being.”
Joining the three accusers was Kathy Shelton, an Arkansas resident who was sexually assaulted as a child in 1975. Hillary Clinton was chosen by the judge to represent the man charged with attacking Shelton. After the prosecution lost key evidence, Clinton’s client accepted a plea agreement for “unlawful fondling of a minor” and served ten months in prison. Clinton was recorded on tape laughing about details of the trial, and the recording has been used by conservatives to attack Clinton during the election.
Trump’s pre-debate conference, which was streamed on Facebook Live, ended when a heckler repeatedly asked Trump “Why do you touch women without their consent?” in reference to his taped comments released this past Friday. Jones responded to the question by asking “Why don’t y’all ask Bill Clinton that?”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri told the Associated Press that Trump was “continuing a destructive race to the bottom” and that Clinton would be “prepared to handle whatever Donald Trump throws her way.”
Watch Trump’s conference with the four women below.