-More sexual-assault allegations have rocked Congress
and the news business, as allegations surfaced
against some of the biggest names in those industries.
Meanwhile, President Trump broke his silence
on Alabama Senate candidate, Roy Moore,
coming out in support of an accused sexual predator.
For more on this, it´s time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
For almost two weeks,
Trump has faced repeated questions
about his position on Moore, and for two weeks,
Trump has done everything he could to avoid answering them.
For example, yesterday, he ignored shouted questions
from reporters about Moore
and announced that for the Thanksgiving holiday,
he had plans to get out of D.C. altogether.
-I just want to wish everybody a very, very happy Thanksgiving.
We´re gonna be working very hard during the recess in Florida.
We´re going to Florida.
-Only Trump could get,
"We´re going to be working very hard,"
and, "We´re going to Florida," in the same sentence.
[ Laughter ]
Maybe Trump thinks he´s working hard
because Twitter went from 140 characters to 280.
"My workload --" [ Applause ]
"My workload has doubled."
[ Laughter ]
"Sometimes I have to type ´tax cuts´ and #MAGA
in the same tweet." [ Laughter and applause ]
So now, for two weeks, since the news about Moore first broke,
we´ve been waiting to find out if Trump could summon
at least a shred of decency and disavow a man
accused of preying on teenaged girls,
and, today, we found out that the old saying is true --
sexual predators of a feather flock together.
-We don´t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat.
Well, he denies it. Look, he denies it.
I mean, if you look at what is really going on
and you look at all the things that have happened
over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it.
He says it didn´t happen.
-And in fairness to Trump, who are you gonna believe?
Nine women who don´t know each other
and whose stories have been corroborated
by dozens of independent sources
or a guy who looks like the Marlboro Man´s deadbeat dad?
[ Laughter ]
But one --
[ Cheers and applause ]
"I got to run out for cigarettes."
"But I
[ Laughter ]
But one of the most revealing parts came
when Trump denounced Moore´s Democratic rival,
Doug Jones, a lifelong prosecutor,
who convicted the KKK members
responsible for the Birmingham church bombing
that killed four little girls, as soft on crime.
-Jones -- I´ve looked at his record.
It´s terrible on crime.
I could tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody
that´s gonna be bad on crime.
But I can tell you, you don´t need somebody
who´s soft on crime like Jones.
-He´s soft on crime?
You´re siding with an accused child molester
over a guy who prosecuted the KKK.
You´re so soft, you look like a tub of melted playdough.
[ Laughter ]
And Trump, of course -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Trump, of course, is not alone.
He´s not alone in backing Moore,
who´s been accused of sexual assault by nine women,
several of whom were teenagers at the time.
Yesterday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway
urged Alabamans to vote for Moore to help pass GOP tax cuts.
And an adviser to a pro-Trump Super PAC, Katie Walsh,
a former White House official, made a similar argument.
Listen as she tries to have it both ways on Moore.
-So their position is literally Roy Moore should step aside,
but if he doesn´t, you should vote for him.
That´s gonna make their pro-Moore TV ads very awkward.
-Who is Roy Moore?
The
"Four more women have accused Roy Moore of misconduct."
And
that "Moore was banned from the Gadsden Mall."
And more than 20 Republicans
have called for Roy Moore to step aside.
But if he doesn´t, you should vote for him anyway
so we can give corporations a giant tax cut!
Roy Moore -- he should step aside.
But if he doesn´t, you know, make him a senator, okay?
Paid for by a group of chicken [bleep] ass [bleep]
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ] -Meanwhile...
Meanwhile, as Trump sides with Roy Moore,
the avalanche of sexual-assault allegations
that have consumed virtually every aspect of society
from politics to entertainment to media continued this week.
For example, yesterday, we learned that eight women
told
Charlie Rose, made unwanted sexual advances towards them,
including lewd phone calls
and walking around naked in their presence.
Good Lord.
Usually when someone that old is walking around naked,
a couple of male nurses lead him right back to his room.
[ Laughter ]
That´s right -- Charlie Rose walked around naked.
It´s the only time anyone´s ever said,
"Thank God there are no lights on this set."
[ Laughter ]
Here´s a good rule of thumb.
If your face isn´t pulling in the babes,
your penis isn´t gonna make the difference.
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
Everybody´s penis is 100% less attractive than their face.
Women don´t love the penis.
If they love the man, they´ll tolerate the penis.
The best --
"Well...all right."
[ Laughter ]
This whole situation is like a reverse "Bachelor."
Nobody wants to accept this rose.
[ Laughter ]
In fact, the
that there were striking commonalities
in how Rose treated the women around him.
You know, I´ll just say it --
it might be time to retire the bathrobe entirely.
It´s a terrible idea for a garment.
Here´s a giant towel
that you tie together with a skinnier towel.
And you never hear a positive news story
involving a bathrobe.
It´s never "Family of four pulled from burning house
by a man in bathrobe." [ Laughter ]
It is always "Some creep was creeping it up
in a creepy [bleep] bathrobe."
[ Laughter and applause ]
And Rose wasn´t the only powerful man in media
accused of harassment yesterday.
There was also
White House correspondent Glenn Thrush.
Yesterday, Vox published a piece about Thrush´s history
of bad judgment around young women journalists.
In that report, the author described
how Thrush cornered her at a bar by essentially
dismissing a female colleague who was with them.
I´m sorry, but you don´t get to call yourself a grown-up
if you dress like you´re wearing a reporter Halloween costume.
[ Laughter ]
Another similarity in all these stories is the degree
to which alleged abusers like Thrush went to silence women.
They preyed on and undermined their careers.
This culture of bullying and intimidation
is toxic and pervasive,
and in Thrush´s case, he reportedly sought
to portray the women he victimized as aggressors.
Can you imagine having the confidence
to say young women came on to you
while you were also wearing a fedora?
[ Laughter ]
And it wasn´t just the news business that was rocked
by sexual-harassment allegations yesterday.
Buzzfeed reported last night
that Michigan Congressman John Conyers...
But you never heard the story, because the former employee...
A temporary employee who shows up but doesn´t do any work.
So basically, they made her a member of Congress.
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
So as a swirl of horrifying sexual-harassment allegations
consumes virtually every aspect of society,
President Trump is publicly standing by
an accused sexual predator.
Nine women have accused Roy Moore of sexual assault,
and Trump doesn´t seem to care.
I guess you could say Trump is, uh, what´s the phrase?
-Soft on crime.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]