Erin Burnett Grills Jerry Falwell Jr: ‘You Would Be Okay’ With Trump Even if He Raped Someone?
Erin Burnett spoke to prominent evangelical Christian and president of Liberty University Jerry Falwell Jr. about the allegations from multiple women made against President Donald Trump concerning sexual misconduct and extramarital affairs.
“At this point, do you think the president needs to come out and address these allegations directly or not?” Burnett asked.
“I don’t think he needs to come forward. I think everyone knows his past,” Falwell, a prominent Trump backer, replied. “I’m one of the 85 percent of evangelicals who supported him. We knew about his past as a real estate mogul, as sort of a playboy, as part of a beauty pageant, and we supported him for one reason: because of his position on the issues.
Falwell added, “When you choose a doctor or lawyer, or when you decide which movie to watch, you don’t check the doctor or the lawyer’s past to see if they’ve had an extramarital affair. I enjoy movies, whether the actors and actresses have behaved their whole lives or not. Same thing with musicians. It’s just that we are all sinners. Nobody understands that better than evangelicals.”
Burnett explained that many in the evangelical community feel differently, including Bob Vander Plaats, and asked Falwell how he felt about the fact that both Karen McDougal‘s and Stormy Daniels‘ stories included Trump saying he reminded them of his daughter, Ivanka.
“I think he’s had a change of heart,” Falwell said. “I don’t think there’s any chance of anything like this happening in the White House like Bill Clinton was accused of or John Kennedy was accused of… I think just like with Bill Clinton, many of his supporters stuck with him no matter what he was accused of, even rape I believe he was accused of. And, you know, it’s a hypothetical question, so I can’t really answer it.”
“But hypothetically, you would be okay with even that? Is that what you are opening the door to? Rape?” Burnett asked cautiously.
“No, no,” Falwell said. “I’m just saying I have to wait and see the circumstances to make that judgement.”
Watch above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
