The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion New York Times lawyer: Donald Trump has no reputation to protect

Media critic|
October 13, 2016 at 4:17 p.m. EDT
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listens during their presidential town hall debate. (Saul Loeb/Reuters)

Donald Trump in 2005 told then-“Access Hollywood” talent Billy Bush that he forces himself upon women when he feels like it: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” Including grabbing their “p‑‑‑y,” according to Trump.

Wednesday night, the New York Times reported that two women described situations in which Trump behaved exactly like that. In fact, Jessica Leeds, who claims that Trump sexually assaulted her on a flight to New York in the early 1980s, describes just the sort of grabbing Trump boasted to Bush. “If he had stuck with the upper part of the body, I might not have gotten — I might not have gotten that upset. But it’s when he started putting his hand up my skirt, and that was it,” Leeds said in an interview with the New York Times.

For a change, it appears Trump passes a fact-check.

Confronted with the real-life consequences of his own avowed actions, Trump Wednesday night took to whining. He and his people demanded a retraction from the New York Times for its article that corroborates his own description of his conduct. The light-and-airy demand carried virtually no substantive case against the piece.

And it warranted a full-force response from the New York Times. Done. A letter released by the New York Times from Vice President and Assistant General Counsel David McCraw fulfills the imperative:

There’s more to the letter, which you can view in its entirety here.

At a time when editorial boards across the country are writing sharp and powerful condemnations, this little legal argument may well endure as the most persuasive burn against Trump.