Juanita Broaddrick: Network's correspondent 'Lisa Myers actually warned me about Andrea' Mitchell
First, GOP
presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump ripped away the “philandering
husband” façade from Bill Clinton, publicly
charging on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Wednesday that the former president
committed “rape.”
Then, on the same
day, the victim, Juanita Broaddrick, described for the first time – in a WND
exclusive sit-down interview conducted in Broaddrick’s Arkansas home –
exactly how the alleged 1978 sexual assault had deeply and permanently scarred
her life throughout the intervening decades. And Broaddrick mentioned something
else: Of all mainstream journalists, the one she spoke to recently on the
phone, seeking an update from Broaddrick on the rape incident and its
aftermath, was NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
How ironic, then,
when Thursday, Mitchell said on-air that Broaddrick’s rape allegation, first
televised by her own network in a sensational “Dateline” segment in 1999, had
been “discredited.”
“Lisa Myers
actually warned me about Andrea,” Broaddrick told WND today, responding to
Mitchell’s comment essentially calling her a liar.
It was Myers, NBC
News’ well-respected and recently
retired senior investigative correspondent, who in 1999 was so convinced of
Broaddrick’s authenticity that she interviewed her for the network’s primetime
story.
Indeed, Mitchell’s
“discredited” claim clashes directly with Myers, who as
recently as 2014 confirmed that “Nothing has come up since that story was
reported that in any way undercuts what Juanita Broaddrick said.”
Here’s what
Broaddrick said today in response to Mitchell’s claim:
“Nothing has changed from
the detailed investigation NBC did into my story in 1999 before airing my
Dateline interview with Lisa Myers,” Broaddrick said in a statement to Los
Angeles attorney Candice Jackson, who conducted the in-person
interview with Broaddrick for WND, having previously authored the acclaimed
book, “Their
Lives: The Women Targeted by the Clinton Machine.”
“And if NBC now
thinks my experience has been ‘discredited,'” Broaddrick continued, “why would
Andrea Mitchell call me to ask me for any new information about my encounter
with Hillary after the assault? And why wouldn’t Andrea Mitchell have written
her own news story explaining exactly how I’ve been discredited? Lisa Myers
actually warned me about Andrea. Andrea is obviously mad at me for exposing her
rudeness and bias when she called me this year. I think being a lapdog for
Hillary Clinton discredits Andrea Mitchell and NBC as journalists!”
Juanita Broaddrick (Photo: Facebook)
“Rudeness and bias”?
Here’s how Jackson reported Broaddrick’s comments about her call with Andrea
Mitchell in her interview
story:
Juanita created a
social media firestorm earlier this year by tweeting that she had been “dreading
seeing my abuser on TV campaign trail for enabler wife … but his physical
appearance reflects ghosts of past are catching up.” One of the many media
figures who called her after this tweet was Andrea Mitchell of NBC. Because
she’d had a positive experience with Lisa Myers with NBC back in 1999, Andrea
Mitchell was one of the few calls Juanita returned in the aftermath of her
trending tweets. Andrea Mitchell asked her just one question, listened to her
answer, and told Juanita condescendingly, “We’re not going to air anything with
you because you have nothing new to add.” Juanita felt bewildered by Andrea
Mitchell’s dismissive attitude.
Mitchell’s
unprecedented media disparagement of Broaddrick’s rape accusation came in her
on-air report on Trump’s “rape” reference.
“Donald Trump using
that word unprompted during an interview last night with Fox News’ Sean
Hannity, bringing up a discredited and long denied accusation against former
President Bill Clinton dating back to 1978 when he was Arkansas attorney general.”
As the Washington
Free Beacon pointed out, Mitchell “is correct to say this allegation is ‘long
denied,’ but on what basis is she calling it discredited? On the contrary,
Broaddrick’s allegation is arguably the most consistent and believable
accusation of sexual assault made against Bill Clinton (though not, of course,
the only one). For a little perspective here, note that even progressive site
Vox says the allegation, ‘has not been definitively refuted.’ Vox also notes
that reporter Michael Isikoff’s book contains a reference to a concession by
Clinton’s lawyers that he may have had ‘consensual sex’ with Broaddrick.”
Mitchell’s comments
on Trump’s
“rape” reference came on the heels of a weekend New
York Times story on Trump’s treatment of women headlined “Crossing the
Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private.” Since its publication,
the story has been widely condemned – one could even say “discredited” – by the
very women quoted by the Times’ reporters, who say their words were shamelessly
twisted to fit the newspaper’s pre-ordained story line.
Trump responded to
the Times story on “Hannity” by focusing on Bill Clinton’s serial sexual abuse
of women.
Hannity picked up the
theme: “For example, I looked at the New York Times. Are they going to
interview Juanita Broaddrick? Are they going to interview Paula Jones? Are they
going to interview Kathleen Willey?” Hannity asked Trump. “In one case, it’s
about exposure. In another case, it’s about groping and fondling and touching
against a woman’s will.”
Trump interjected,
“And rape.”
“And rape,” Hannity
repeated.
Here is NBC’s
original 1999 “Dateline” segment featuring Lisa Myers interviewing Juanita
Broaddrick about her alleged rape by Bill Clinton:
In “Their Lives,” Jackson documented the failings in the White House’s denial at the time, a statement that read, “Any allegation that the president assaulted Ms. Broaddrick more than 20 years ago is absolutely false.”
In “Their Lives,” Jackson documented the failings in the White House’s denial at the time, a statement that read, “Any allegation that the president assaulted Ms. Broaddrick more than 20 years ago is absolutely false.”
Explained Jackson:
“No attempt to argue that Clinton wasn’t even in Little Rock on the day in
question, or that he had never been alone with her, or even that they hadn’t
had sexual relations. The denial was immediately parsed by some on the press
and public wary of Clinton’s overly technical, legalistic use of the English
language. Broaddrick wasn’t known as ‘Ms. Broaddrick’ in 1978, some noted – at
that time she was ‘Mrs. Hickey.'”
And, Jackson added,
“She alleged rape, not ‘assault.'”
The case presented
some worrying issues to even those like Washington Post columnist Richard
Cohen, “no friend of conservatives,” wrote Jakcson.
“Cohen … remained
troubled by Juanita Broaddrick’s story. ‘Is it possible the president’s a
rapist? Am I supposed not to care?’ Cohen wondered.”
On Thursday, Jackson
was specific: “‘Not credible’ was never a label anyone was able to throw at
Juanita – not even Clinton loyalists like George Stephanopolous. ‘Discredited’
has NEVER been used against Juanita before, and it is an outrageous lie.
Journalists confirmed details such as Juanita’s attendance at the nursing home
event in Little Rock and the location of the hotel where she met with Clinton.
Friends at the time confirmed that she told them about the assault right after
it occurred. The only thing that has ever been used against Juanita is the fact
that she did sign an affidavit denying she’d experienced unwanted sexual
advances from Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s, in an effort to keep her name out
of the Paula Jones lawsuit.
“She admitted to Ken
Starr in 1998 that she’d lied in that affidavit (that rape had in fact
occurred), and she has told the same consistent version of events ever since.
That affidavit existed in 1999 when Juanita first told her story to the WSJ and
then on NBC’s ‘Dateline’ with Lisa Myers. That affidavit simply didn’t hold up
against the overwhelming evidence of the truth of her story of rape.”
On “Hannity,” Trump
also cited “big settlements, massive settlements” reached by Bill Clinton with
various women who leveled accusations of sexual abuse or worse.
“And lots of other
things. And impeachment for lying.”
Trump continued, “You
know, he lost his law license, OK? He couldn’t practice law. And you don’t read
about this on Clinton.”
Paula Jones charged
that Bill Clinton exposed himself to her at a Little Rock, Arkansas, hotel in
1991 and Kathleen Willey accused Clinton of groping her in 1993. Broaddrick,
identified as Jane Doe No. 5 during the Paula Jones trial, claimed in 1999 that
Clinton had sexually assaulted and raped her in 1978.
And what about
Hillary Clinton, who hopes to become president in a few months?
Jackson’s
latest interview with Broaddrick reveals Broaddrick’s “haunting” encounter
with Hillary Clinton shortly after the alleged rape:
“About two weeks
after the rape, Juanita reluctantly showed up at a Clinton for Governor
campaign event that she’d committed to attending prior to being assaulted. She
hoped to show up briefly and leave before the Clintons arrived, but instead,
Hillary Clinton spotted Juanita and walked directly up to her, grabbed her
hand, looked her in the eyes and said deliberately, ‘We want to thank you for
everything that you do for Bill.’ Juanita tried to step back but Hillary
tightened her grip on Juanita’s hand and repeated, ‘Everything you do for
Bill.’ The cold look in Hillary eyes still haunts Juanita. ‘Bill Clinton was
charming and personable,’ Juanita says, ‘but Hillary never had that – she’s
just cold.’ Juanita understood Hillary’s calculated ‘greeting’ as a threat to
keep quiet.”
Broaddrick told
Jackson she decided to speak out now because of a campaign-season comment from
Hillary Clinton.
“It was all because
of Hillary’s tweet in December [2015] where she said we all need to ‘believe
the victims of sexual assault.’ How can she be so ignorant? Doesn’t she know
we’ll all come forward again? She was saying in that tweet that all of us are
liars. Has she lost her mind?” she said.
Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.
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