On Sunday night, with fewer than two hours to go before the second presidential debate, Donald Trump appeared on Facebook live with four women who have accused Bill and/or Hillary Clinton of wronging them: Juanita Broaddrick (who claims Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 and Hillary then intimidated her), Kathy Shelton (who was raped at 12, and whose rapist was represented in court by Hillary Clinton), Kathleen Willey (who accused Bill Clinton of groping her in 1993), and Paula Jones (who accused then-Gov. Clinton of exposing himself to her in 1991).
Trump, like many in the press, has effectively equated these four women’s claims. But they are rather different. On one extreme, Shelton’s accusations amount to blaming Clinton for representing her client adequately in court, a client to whom she was assigned to represent and did not choose. There’s no wrongdoing there. On the other extreme, Broaddrick has a serious and credible accusation against Bill Clinton, though the evidence that Hillary was involved is weaker.
