Donald Trump called the investigation into his alleged $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels a “witch hunt.” At a recent rally, the former president insulted her looks and implied that Daniels wasn’t good looking enough to have an affair with — a line of attack he’s used before on women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
“That wouldn’t be the one!” he told the crowd gathered in Waco, Texas, in late March, shortly before he was indicted. “There is no one. We have a great first lady.” In the background, supporters held up signs reading, “Witch Hunt.”
On Tuesday, as Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in New York, his campaign sold “NOT GUILTY” T-shirts online with a fake mug shot for $47. They claimed to have raised millions in the days following his indictment.
The charges against Trump aren’t about whether he had an affair with Daniels, but whether he falsified records to conceal criminal conduct, hiding damaging information ahead of the 2016 presidential election. But the investigation, and Trump’s reaction, has put a spotlight on his history with women, one that sparked protests around the country after his 2017 inauguration and helped set the stage for the explosion of the #MeToo movement. ...
