During a press briefing on Friday afternoon White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said all of the women who have accused President Donald Trump of sexual harassment are lying.
"Yeah, we’ve been clear on that from the beginning, and the president has spoken on it," Sanders said after being asked by Jacqueline Alemany of CBS News if the "official position" of the White House is that the women who have accused the president have lied.
Throughout the course of Trump's presidential campaign a total of 16 women came forward and alleged Trump had sexually harassed them in the past. Trump has repeatedly denied all of the allegations and called them "fake news," as recently as this month.
"All I can say is it’s totally fake news. It’s just fake. It’s fake. It’s made-up stuff, and it’s disgraceful, what happens, but that happens in the world of politics," Trump said on Oct. 16, the Washington Post reported.
During his campaign a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape was released in which Trump bragged about grabbing and kissing women without their consent. He said he could get away with his behavior because he was a "star." The next month he was elected president.
The allegations against Trump have been brought back into the limelight after Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had been accused by several women that he abused them in the past to varying degrees. Since the revelations about Weinstein's alleged abuse, several powerful men have been accused of sexual misconduct, including NBC's Mark Halperin.
While men like Weinstein and Halperin have received consequences for their alleged actions, Trump has consistently emerged from his scandals unscathed.
"It is hard to reconcile that Harvey Weinstein could be brought down with this, and [President] Trump just continues to be the Teflon Don," Jessica Leeds, a woman who said Trump groped her on a plane 30 years ago, according to the Washington Post.
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