White House provides "witness list"

He says he never met the women accusing him. But he's got witnesses? How does that work?

[T]he White House provided one outlet with just three names of purported eyewitnesses. Two of the White House’s “eyewitnesses” weren’t even in the same pageant as Samantha Holvey, the woman whose claims the White House asserted they’d denied.

[...]

Neither of two “eyewitnesses” the White House provided ThinkProgress Monday night competed in the 2006 Miss USA pageant. Katie Blair competed in Miss Teen USA 2006, and Melissa Young competed in Miss USA 2005.

[...]

One other eyewitness listed in an email to ThinkProgress denied, in an interview last year arranged by Trump campaign, a separate claim against Trump.

TPM requested the same list, but the White House has yet to provide it despite acknowledging the request.

[...]

The White House also pointed ThinkProgress to Anthony Gilberthorpe [...] who claimed last year to have been on the plane, and to have witnessed, what Jessica Leeds later described as Trump’s aggressive groping of her.

[...]

Gilberthorpe told the Post that he recognized Leeds when she held up a picture of her younger self in a video report published by the New York Times.

“I have a good photographic memory,” he said. The Post added: “Gilberthorpe has no evidence to back up his claim — just his self-described excellent memory.”

  TPM

Yeah, let's get that on the stand and test it.

But, aside from his claims of recollection, Gilberthorpe’s earned more than a grain of salt: He is a frequent source for British tabloid stories, and, ThinkProgress noted, many of them have turned out to be made up or otherwise without corroborative evidence.

Impeach the disgusting pig.

By inserting himself directly into the discussion, the president ensured that calls for revived scrutiny over the women’s allegations would gain new energy and prominence.

  NYT

Yes. Did I mention he's also stupid as fuck?

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Trump ignored a shouted question from a reporter about what he meant in his Twitter post.

[...]

Senate Democrats, including Ms. Gillibrand, forced the resignation last week of Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, clearing away any ambiguity over their push to hold the president accountable after the claims of his accusers.

[...]

“Historically members of Congress have used mean, crude, over-the-line words to attack sitting presidents, and many presidents try to rise above and not return the fire,” said Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman for President George W. Bush. “Donald Trump has made a conscious decision to return the fire. That’s his style and I cannot say he’s wrong to do it. It wasn’t my style. It wasn’t President Bush’s style. His instructions were to rise above it.”

One problem, enabler. Gillibrand was never mean, crude or over-the-line. She simply said he should be investigated because of the credible allegations against him, and that he should voluntarily step down.

This is a nice optic for the Asshole in Chief:

Gillibrand was attending a bipartisan Bible study Tuesday morning when Trump's tweet landed, and her phone was immediately filled with supportive and befuddled messages, wondering just what the president was thinking, a Gillibrand aide said.

[...]

Gillibrand, New York's junior senator and a rising political star, is widely considered a likely 2020 presidential candidate against Trump, and the president's Twitter assault Tuesday offered an early glimpse of just how vicious the next race for the White House could become.

  WaPo

I'm counting on him not being in the 2020 race.

“Having a president who attacks other women for how they look or suggests that they are sexually promiscuous or liars, it’s going to hurt the party over all,” Ms. Matthews said.

  NYT

One can only hope.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.