Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning to address sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump. A week ago, Tapper reminded the mayor that he confidently said Trump had never groped a woman as he described in the “Access Hollywood” tape. Since then, however, nine women have come forward to accuse Trump of doing just that.
So, Tapper wondered, is Giuliani saying he believes all nine women are liars?
“I wouldn’t say it that way,” he said. “I believe my friend Donald Trump.”
Giuliani did say one particular alleged assault clearly appears to be false. The story told by one woman featured in The New York Times piece earlier this week who claims Trump lifted up the armrest and started touching her doesn't seem credible, the mayor said.
“I’ve fortunately been able to afford first class since being mayor,” Giuliani noted. “You see everything that goes on.”
Giuliani said he believes the witness who was on board who claims the alleged assault never happened. Tapper noted that the witness whom Giuliani is referring to is a former "pimp."
“You don’t get to choose who your witnesses are,” the mayor responded.
When Tapper pressed Giuliani again as to whether he’s calling these women liars, the mayor refused to take the bait.
“I will not engage in Clinton-like tactics,” he said.
Giuliani reminded Tapper that the Clintons routinely dismissed Bill Clinton’s accusers in the 1990s. The former president’s aides are reported to have called them part of his “bimbo eruptions” and the First Family was accused of trying to undermine the alleged victims’ narratives. In a New York delegation speech earlier this year, Giuliani called Bill Clinton a “predator” and that he has conducted the biggest war on women in the last two decades.