(CNN) — President Donald Trump said allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh “affect” him because he has face similar allegations “many times.”
“People want fame. They want money,” Trump said speaking at a news conference in New York on Wednesday.
“When you say does it affect me in terms of my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh? Absolutely. Because I’ve had it many times,” Trump told reporters at the news conference amid the United Nations General Assembly.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, at least 15 women accused Trump of misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment and sexual assault to lewd behavior around women. They came forward in the wake of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape that was released in October 2016 in which he is caught saying on a hot mic: “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.”
But the White House — through press secretary Sarah Sanders and others — has dismissed all the allegations against him as old news that had been litigated during the campaign.
Trump on Wednesday claimed he has been accused of sexual misconduct by four or five women “who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me.”
