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Facing a series of charges of sexual assault, a defiant and combative Donald Trump tried to play the victim card claiming he is subject to a ‘conspiracy’ hatched by the rival Clinton campaign and said that the very survival of the United States is at stake.
The 70-year-old reality TV star and the Republican presidential nominee rejected claims by women against him of sexual abuse as “preposterous and ludicrous” allegations that “defy truth, common sense and logic”.
“Let’s be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They’re a political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda, and the agenda is not for you, it’s for themselves,” he said at an election rally in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them it’s a war, and for them nothing at all is out of bounds.
This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me. And this will be our last chance to save it on November 8th, remember that,” he told thousands of his supporters in this key battleground state on Thursday.
Trump said this election will determine whether the US is a free nation or whether it has only an illusion of democracy, but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system.
“This is reality, you know it, they know it, I know it, and pretty much the whole world knows it. The establishment and their media enablers will control over this nation through means that are very well known. Anyone who challenges their control is deemed a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and morally deformed,” he alleged.
Trump’s angry response came a day after two women accused him of inappropriately touching them as reported by the New York Times. He has sent a legal notice to the daily, which has refused to take down its story and asserted that it stands by it.
“These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. The Clintons know it, and they know it very well. These claims are all fabricated. They’re pure fiction and they’re outright lies. These events never, ever happened and the people said them meekly fully understand. You take a look at these people, you study these people, and you’ll understand also,” Trump said.
“The claims are preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time very soon,” he said amid applause from the audience.
He alleged that these lies come from outlets whose past stories and past claims have already been discredited.
The media outlets did not even attempt to confirm the most basic facts because even a simple investigation would have shown that these were nothing more than false smears, he said.
Image: Supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wear matching shirts as they gather before their rally with him. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters