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  • 2016-10-15 (xsd:date)
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  • WikiLeaks Exposes Fake Trump Groping Plot (et)
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  • On 14 October 2016, amidst an onslaught of public accusations by women alleging that GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump had kissed or groped them inappropriately, several pro-Trump web sites ran articles holding up a leaked May 2016 e-mail exchange between Democratic National Committee staffers as evidence that the sexual assault allegations were supposedly contrived months earlier in a plot to smear Trump. The Democrats have been planning the 'Grope hit' on Trump for a very long time now, claimed one such report on TruthFeed: It's true that the e-mails, published by WikiLeaks in July 2016, detailed a proposal to design a satirical Craigslist ad seeking hot women to work at a Trump organization: Clearly, there was a plan discussed (or at least joked about) on or about 18 May 2016 to fabricate a Craigslist ad mocking Trump's behavior toward women, and it did deploy phrases such as kissing on the lips and groping under the table, but — contrary to what the Trump defenders claim — the idea wasn't floated until after groping accusations against the candidate had already surfaced. In point of fact, the e-mail conversation took place two days after a New York Times article dated 16 May 2016 laid out specific allegations identical to the behaviors spoofed in the ad. For example, the title of the position advertised is supposedly Honey Bunch (that's what the boss will call you, the ad says) — precisely the nickname former Trump employee Barbara Res said Trump gave her on the job. The spoof says, Like it or not, [the boss] may greet you with a kiss on the lips or grope you under the meeting table — and the 16 May Times article reported the experiences of former Miss Utah Temple Taggart, according to whom Trump introduced himself by walking up and kissing her on the lips, and former Trump business associate Jill Harth, who was quoted as saying, Basically, he name-dropped throughout that dinner, when he wasn't groping me under the table. The evidence shows that allegations Trump groped and kissed women inappropriately were already in the air before the idea of creating a mock Craigslist ad was floated. Moreover, there's nothing within the texts of the leaked e-mails themselves to indicate a conspiracy to do anything more ambitious than fabricating a single satirical ad. (en)
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