The facts about Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton - Joe Conason

A six-month-old article but,...

The truth about Donald Trump’s old mud: The facts about Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton

BY JOE CONASON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, May 28, 2016, 5:00 AM

Whenever Donald Trump lies, which he does almost every day, the American media listen. Sometimes journalists debunk the Republican presidential nominee-to-be, and sometimes they fail to do so. As his campaign descends neck-deep into the sewer of tabloid filth, vetting his attacks on the Clintons is becoming an unpleasant but vital responsibility.

The urge to smear is apparently irresistible to Trump, as he proved repeatedly during the primaries with his nasty assaults on the family of Ted Cruz. But if he still insists on going there, then news outlets must hold him accountable for all his slurs and slanders.

Assisted by Nixon-era dirty trickster Roger Stone, Trump is promoting the absurdly sexist message that Hillary Clinton deserves blame for her husband’s alleged misconduct. To make that case, they have been recruiting — and sometimes paying — women who claim that Bill Clinton victimized them.

One of these women is Juanita Broaddrick, an Arkansas nursing home owner who came forward in 1998 to claim that Clinton assaulted her, after signing a sworn affidavit denying that any such incident had occurred. Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr investigated her case, found the evidence “inconclusive” and declined to include her charges in his impeachment brief. Now Broaddrick accuses Hillary Clinton of attempting to “silence” her — even though she said the opposite in a famous NBC News interview.

“Did Bill Clinton or anyone near him ever threaten you, try to intimidate you, do anything to keep you silent?” asked Dateline correspondent Lisa Myers in 1999. “No,” replied Broaddrick firmly. What did Broaddrick tell Starr about Hillary when he put her under oath? An enterprising reporter might ask.

Another former Starr witness excavated from obscurity by Trump and Stone is Kathleen Willey, a former White House aide who claims that Clinton made “unwanted advances” toward her in the Oval Office. Willey’s story too has shifted repeatedly during the 23 years since that incident allegedly occurred.

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http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/joe-conason-truth-donald-trump-old-mud-article-1.2652509