First lady Melania Trump says that women who are making allegations of sexual assault or misconduct need “really hard evidence.”
“If you accuse (someone) of something, show the evidence,” she said in an interview with ABC News, taped last week in Kenya during her first major solo trip to Africa. “I support the women and they need to be heard. We need to support them and, you know, also men, not just women.”
The comments were similar to those she made during the 2016 presidential campaign, when more than dozen women accused her husband of sexual misconduct. “I do stand with women, but we need to show the evidence. You cannot just say to somebody, ‘I was sexually assaulted,’ or, ‘You did that to me,’ because sometimes the media goes too far, and the way they portray some stories it’s, it’s not correct, it’s not right,” said Trump last week.
On Twitter, CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti replied, “The testimony of a victim *is* evidence.”
The testimony of a victim *is* evidence. https://t.co/XSJejuO7yl
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) October 10, 2018
The first lady was originally more measured when asked by reporters about Brett Kavanaugh‘s recent Supreme Court confirmation last week, along with the accusations leveled against him by Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed Kavanaugh assaulted her at a high-school party in the 1980s.
“I would say if we’re talking about the Supreme Court and Judge Kavanaugh, I think he’s highly qualified for the Supreme Court. I’m glad that Dr. Ford was heard, I’m glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard. FBI investigation was done, is completed and Senate voted,” she said during an impromptu press conference with reporters in front of the Sphinx in Egypt on Oct. 6.
Asked if she believed Ford, the first lady would not answer. “I will move on that,” she said. “And I think that all the victims, they need — we need to help all the victims, no matter what kind of abuse they had. But I am against any kind of abuse or violence.”
On Oct. 2, President Trump said this is “a very scary time for young men in America, where you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. This is a very, very — this is a very difficult time. What’s happening here has much more to do than even the appointment of a Supreme Court justice.”
Statistics show that false accusations of rape almost never happen.
