Amid a whirlwind of major network media appearances discussing her accusations of rape against President Donald Trump, E. Jean Carroll, an advice columnist who’s accused the president of sexually assaulting her some 20-plus years ago, left CNN’s Anderson Cooper speechless – literally – when she said the encounter wasn’t “sexual,” and that “most people think of rape as being sexy.”
I was not thrown on the ground an ravished,” she told Cooper. “Which, the word ‘rape’ carries so many sexual connotations. This was not sexual. It just…it hurt."
“But most people think of rape as…I mean, it is a violent assault. It is not a sexual–” Cooper began to cut in.
“I think most people think of rape as being sexy. Think of the fantasies,” Carroll disagreed, leaving Cooper at a total loss for words and awkwardly suggesting they cut to a break.
“We’ll take a quick break, if you can stick around we’ll talk to you on the other side,” Cooper said.
“You’re fascinating to talk to,” Carroll responded.
Carroll, best known for her long-running "Ask E. Jean" column in Elle magazine, has accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room of a high-end department store sometime in either the fall of 1995 or the spring of 1996. In an excerpt from her new book, “What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal,” published last week in New York magazine, Carroll said she hasn't been with anyone else sexually since the alleged assault. She also claims she still owns the dress she was wearing that day, which she says she's never laundered.
Carroll also previously said she won't be filing charges against the president for the alleged assault because it would be "disrespectful to the women who are down on the border who are being raped around the clock down there without any protection."
Trump, for his part, has denied the assault and claimed he has no idea who Carroll is.
Despite the fact that Carroll’s uncorroborated story (which just happened to crop up right before an election year and just before the release of her new book) currently holds up about as well as a wet paper bag in a hurricane, the media apparently want us to approach it as gospel truth. Here’s CNN’s Chris Cuomo, wondering why no one seems to be taking the accusations seriously:
How can journalist E. Jean Carroll be brushed away as just one more? In the era of #MeToo and this having nothing to do with anything consensual at any point? This is the most extreme accusation we've had against this President and it has had almost no impact on our dialogue. pic.twitter.com/dOUOrBC4ms
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) June 25, 2019
And here’s the same network’s Alisyn Camerota, who actually agreed along with Carroll despite the multiple gaps and totally unsubstantiated claims in her story, repeatedly telling Carroll “I totally understand” throughout her tale.
E. Jean Carroll alleges Donald Trump attacked her at a New York luxury department store in the late 1990s.
— CNN (@CNN) June 24, 2019
Trump has denied the allegations, saying, “I have no idea who this woman is.”
E. Jean Carroll joins Alisyn Camerota to tell her story. (Part 1) https://t.co/6gAgPW15KS pic.twitter.com/M5Ebw54d7f