'Listen to women!' Ex-Trump aide skewered for defending 'protect women – like it or not'

Donald Trump taunted his critics by saying he would "protect women ... whether the women like it or not," and a Republican operative who served in his administration had a hard time defending his remarks.

Tricia McLaughlin, who served in several roles in the departments of state and treasury, insisted that Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance stood strongly in favor of protecting women's health and reproductive rights, despite the former president's boasts that he assembled the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade.

"That's incredibly important to me, the fact that him and J.D. Vance back IVF, the fact that he said he would not sign a national abortion ban this is a real area of not only a political vulnerability for Republicans, but I think a governance vulnerability for Republicans," McLaughlin told CNN. "We've seen major issues and different states where laws have not been carried out the way that they shouldn't be, and the result is that women were hurt or put and very bad medical circumstances. So I'm really glad that Donald Trump stepped up and said that, and I'm looking forward to hearing more specifics."

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CNN's Sarah Sidner reminded McLaughlin that women have died while awaiting emergency care after abortion rights were struck down, and she seemed to be at a loss to explain.

"That should not be happening in this country and unforeseen circumstances, I think Republicans, Democrats, every American leader needs to really govern appropriately on this and make sure that there's these kind of issues not happening in this country," McLaughlin. "That's why I said we have to get into the specifics here and make sure that women's health is not put at risk."

Christine Quinn, the executive committee chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, pushed back hard against McLaughlin's claims.

"The representation that Donald Trump has firmly said he would not sign an abortion ban is simply not true," Quinn said. "He has both said he wouldn't sign and he would sign it. He has said both. He has waffled back-and-forth and he has said this issue should go to the states, where he knows many of the states would put in an abortion ban. That is not leading, and women don't need Donald Trump to take care of them because much of what he is articulated is against the reproductive and health care freedoms of women."

"What we do need is leaders who are going to listen to women, listen to doctors, listen to medical providers, those leaders are Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, not Donald Trump and not J.D. Vance," Quinn added.

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