ABC published an interview with Bill Clinton on Wednesday about his response to Donald Trump bringing up his "accusers," but the article didn't mention the women's names or even the sexual nature of their allegations.
Bill Clinton said he was proud of his wife for the way she handled a predebate news conference staged by Donald Trump in which he gathered three of the former president's accusers — the first time he has publicly addressed the issue.
"I looked at her, and I realized that’s the kind of person you want to be president. Calm, relaxed and focused on other people. That’s what the election ought to be about. I mean, it’s a clear choice. It’s a pretty clear choice," said Bill Clinton in Ames, Iowa, today. "I thought more about her than I did about him. I’m beyond being moved or surprised, have been for a long time."
The women later appeared at the debate.
Bill Clinton said of the debate, "I was proud of my wife. And I felt bad for the citizens who were sitting on the stage who had been told if they came here, they could ask questions about what they really cared about that affect their lives, and very few of them got to. I felt bad for them, but I was proud of her."
Trump has promised to keep the personal attacks coming in the final stretch before the election.
.@billclinton on Trump's presser before second debate: "I was proud of my wife...I thought much more about her than I did about him." pic.twitter.com/VdVSYHkK5G
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 12, 2016
The women making the allegations are named Paula Jones, Kathleen Wiley and Juanita Broaddrick, but ABC's Matthew Claiborne did not give their names in his article. He also did not tell readers that they have accused Clinton of sexual misconduct.
Trump, after a 2005 tape was released last week of him making sexually explicit remarks about groping women, conducted a news conference on Sunday alongside Jones, Wiley and Broaddrick. Broaddrick charges that Clinton raped her in 1978.
Kathy Shelton, whose rapist was defended in court by Hillary Clinton in 1975, was also at Trump's conference.