Pence Cowers From Criticizing Trump After Sexual Abuse Verdict: ‘Never Heard or Witnessed Behavior of That Nature’

thewrap.com:

wanted to hang Mike Pence, the former VP himself is still reluctant to criticize Trump, even in the wake of a jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.On Tuesday, a jury ruled in favor of E.

Jean Carroll, a magazine columnist who alleged that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a department store in 1996. Though the jury did not affirm her claim that Trump raped her, they did find him liable of sexual battery and defamation, ordering Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.In an interview shortly after the ruling came down, Pence cowered away from criticizing his former boss specifically over the sexual misconduct portion of things.“I would tell you, in my four and a half years serving alongside the president, I never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature,” Pence told NBC News.The infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which the twice-impeached former president openly bragged about grabbing women by their genitals, was released in 2016, just a month before the election.

Pence had been Trump’s running mate for roughly five months at that point.In September 2016, Trump not-so-subtly implied that he physically checked out his opponent Hillary Clinton, saying “When she walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn’t impressed.” That same month, Trump called Alicia Machado, the 1996 Miss Universe winner from Venezuela, “disgusting” and called out a supposed sex tape of hers.Trump also referred to the height of the #MeToo movement as “a very scary time for young men in America,” and in 2018, Bob Woodward’s book revealed that Trump said men can “never admit” to mistreatment of women. “You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women,” Trump said at the time. “If you admit to anything and any.