In late June, a Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against the Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump claiming to have been raped by him in 1994 when she was only 13 years old. Despite the severity of this accusation, the mainstream media seems to have brushed the story off and only The Huffington Post and a few smaller sources seem to have written articles about it. Even though you may be thinking, "Oh, it's just another crazy person with a ridiculous case trying to stir up commotion," I'd like to discuss the case and several reasons why we should take this claim seriously.
The Jane Doe claims to have been held as a sex slave by Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of Trumps and a Level 3 registered sex offender. Jane claims that she was enticed to go to one of Epstein's parties by a Tiffany Doe who promised a money modeling job. At the party, Jane was taken by Epstein and Trump, and she claims that Trump "initiated sexual contact" on four different occasions without her consent, even though at thirteen, consent cannot be given anyway.
On the fourth occasion, Jane claims that Trump tied her to a bed and forcibly raped her in a "savage sexual attack." She pleaded for him to stop but Trump replied by smacking her hard across the face. After this attack, she claims Trump told her to stay quiet about it or else her and her family would be "physically harmed if not killed." Because of this, Jane Doe has been under duress and New York's statue of limitations does not prevent her from filing her case.
Attached to her complaint are two documents that further provide details about what may have transpired. These first two are from Jane Doe:
"Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike me about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at me that he, Defendant Epstein, should have been the one who took my virginity, not Defendant Trump."
"Defendant Trump stated that I shouldn’t ever say anything if I didn’t want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that I had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having my whole family killed."
These next two are from Tiffany Doe, the girl who enticed her to attend the party and also a key witness to the actual rapes:
"I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old."
"I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop."
What Tiffany Doe says corroborates almost everything that Jane Doe reported about the rapes, including that a 12-year old Maria was involved in the third sexual act and disappeared afterwards and that Trump threatened that Jane would disappear like Maria did. These claims being backed up by a witness add some credibility to them.
These claims in the case make Jane Doe's case seem legitimate. Further adding suspicion to the case is Donald Trump's relationship with Epstein. In a report a few years ago, Trump told a reporter, "I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
As someone who is gravely concerned about the two front-runners for the Presidential election, I think that this case should not be pushed aside. With Hillary being labeled a criminal and untrustworthy and Donald being called a racist and a manipulator, it doesn't seem out of place to add rapist to the list of things wrong with our primary choices.
Think about how Trump is towards women. He has called women names like "dogs" and "pigs," has attempted to undermine someone's professionalism by blaming menstruation, called a woman "disgusting" for asking for a recess to pump breast milk, and has been quoted saying if his daughter Ivanka wasn't his daughter, he would probably be dating her. None of this means that Donald Trump is a rapist, but it does show that he is not the type of man women should feel comfortable around alone.
On top of all this, we shouldn't discredit these claims due to how many rape charges have arisen in recent years. Bill Cosby, for one, shows that famous men are not off the list for potential rapists. Dozens of women came out claiming of being sexually abused by Cosby, and many reporters ignored their claims for years letting these women live knowing their rapist was still roaming free.
Brock Turner is another example. Two of the biggest things that came out of his case was how the media tried to belittle the charges and how the sentence was a "slap on the wrist" because he was a rich, white male who was a top state swimmer. The media seems to turn away from rape claims when they are charged against someone unexpected of them.
If Trump has indeed raped a 13 year old girl 22 years ago, we, as the people and as the media, are obligated to report on this for the possibility of these claims being true. Instead of reporting on what Melania Trump plagiarized or minor aspects of the national conventions, why are media outlets shying away from this? Why is MSNBC not reporting on the claim daily to put the image of "rapist" in the minds of every viewer for and against Trump? Some more investigation needs to be put into this case, and whether the claim is true or false, the media should be informing the public on this serious accusation against the Republican's choice for the next President of the United States.
