Former President Donald Trump is heading out to campaign for a political ally who stands accused of sexual assault. Again.
Since Trump endorsed longtime supporter Charles Herbster’s campaign for Nebraska governor, multiple women have come forward to accuse Herbster of sexual harassment and assault—including a Republican state senator who told the Nebraska Examiner that he reached up her skirt and touched her inappropriately at a campaign event.
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Trump’s response? A campaign rally for his embattled ally.
Trump is heading to Greenwood, Nebraska, tonight to rally for Herbster in his competitive gubernatorial primary. Other speakers include former Trump aides Kellyanne Conway and David Bossie, American Conservative Union and CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp, and MyPillow CEO and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.
Eight women have accused Herbster, an agribusiness executive and major Trump donor, of sexual misconduct. An eyewitness confirmed the state senator’s account of Herbster touching her inappropriately to the Nebraska Examiner, and six other women told the Examiner that he’d touched them inappropriately as well. One woman told the Examiner that he had forcibly kissed her. According to The Daily Mail, an email belonging to Herbster also created an account on the extramarital affair website Ashley Madison.
Herbster has denied the accusations of sexual harassment and assault and that the Ashley Madison account was his.
Trump, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women, has a long history of standing by people accused of harassment and assault.
Most recently, he endorsed House candidate Monica De La Cruz in February even though she’s been accused by her estranged husband of physically and verbally abusing his daughter. Trump has also endorsed and rallied with his former White House aide Max Miller, whose ex-girlfriend, fellow former White House staffer Stephanie Grisham, accused him of physical and emotional abuse.
Last year, Trump didn’t rescind his endorsement of Pennsylvania Senate candidate Sean Parnell when Parnell’s estranged wife accused him in court of strangling her and hitting their children. Parnell dropped out of the race when a judge sided with her.
And Trump famously supported Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in 2017 even after the rest of the GOP walked away from him over claims that he’d sexually assaulted a teenager.
De La Cruz, Miller, Moore, and Parnell have all denied the allegations against them.
