Karen Pence praises Trump's treatment of young women on day 43 new allegations of inappropriate behavior surface
Vice President Mike Pence's wife Karen Pence faced heavy criticism on social media after she reportedly praised the way in which President Donald Trump treats young women.
The second lady, on Wednesday, told a 'Women for Trump' discussion in St. Paul, Minnesota, that she likes the respect Trump has for his daughters, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump, and claimed that the president had "empowered women like no other," according to The New York Times’ White House correspondent Katie Rogers.
Pence reportedly also told the crowd to "go out and talk to a friend in support of the president," and asked them to pray for him, saying: "Don’t be afraid to get on your knees.”
Pence's statement, however, was ill-timed, coming shortly after excerpts of journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy's book 'In All the President's Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator' revealed that Trump had once grabbed a married woman by her genitals and forcibly kissed her at a party while he was in a relationship with Melania. The book reportedly recounts more than 100 interviews to detail the history of Trump's relationship with women.
Although the president already has sexual misconduct allegations against him from nearly two dozen women, the latest book reveals 43 allegations of alleged inappropriate behavior, including 26 instances of unwanted sexual contact.
Minutes after Karen Pence's appraisal of Trump's behavior towards women was reported, multiple critics took to social media to call out the second lady over her praise of the president. Several of them also reminded Pence of Trump's long and well-documented history of insulting women, and the comments made by him in the infamous 2005 'Access Hollywood' tape, where the Republican bragged about "grabbing them by their p******."
One Twitter user Joel Benenson wrote: "I guess @secondlady missed the interview where @realDonaldTrump bragged about walking in on semi-naked contestants in the teen Miss USA pageant. You know, the recording all of America heard when it was replayed during the campaign. That’s how he treats young women. "
While Marisa Kabas wrote: "Interesting thing to say the same day 43 more allegations of sexual misconduct against him are published."
Twitter user Phillip Rucker said: "This is quite a departure from how Karen Pence felt about Trump’s treatment of women back in 2016, according to @TimAlberta’s reporting in “American Carnage."