Ivana Trump Denies Donald Raped Her, As He Dominates GOP Polls
Ivana Trump denied that her former husband Donald Trump raped her while they were still married as suggested by the tabloid Daily Beast using an allegation she made about 30 years ago. In a statement to CNN Tuesday, she said,
“I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald. The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of. I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign. Incidentally, I think he would make an incredible president.”
Despite the new scandal dogging the real estate billionaire, he has surged to a double-digit lead in New Hampshire, ahead of other Republican presidential candidates, according to Boston.com. Polling 24 percent of Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, Monmouth University found Trump to be the first choice, double the number attributed to Jeb Bush in second place. The Trump gain gives him the distinction of standing head and shoulders above the other Republican hopefuls in a significant way.
According to the New York Post, The Trump Organization Executive Vice President Michael Cohen responded to the rape accusation with a statement that went viral online. In an email to the Daily Beast, he said,
“By the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse. It is true. You cannot rape your spouse. And there’s very clear case law.”
The furor that followed, based on the fact that marital rape is illegal in all 50 states, prompted the Trump campaign to distance itself from Cohen. In a statement to CNN, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said, “Mr. Trump didn’t know of his comments but disagrees with them. Michael Cohen is a corporate employee and is not affiliated with the campaign in any way.”
In rehashing the old accusation, the Daily Beast quoted a statement by Ivana Trump on the first page of a 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump by Harry Hurt III. Her entry said,
“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me. On one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage. As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”
In the wake of the Mexican-migrant gaffe and the belittling of John McCain’s war record, the old rape statement by Ivana Trump could have been the final breaking straw for Donald Trump’s campaign. The opposite is true, however, as he continues to dominate the polls.
[Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images]
