Hillary Clinton is “lying” when she says she stands for women, declared the victim of a brutal childhood rape whose assailant was defended by the Democratic presidential candidate despite Clinton later divulging she believed that her client was guilty.
Clinton laughed about her role in the case during a taped interview in the mid 1980s.
During the trial, Clinton questioned the motives of Kathy Shelton, who was 12 when she was violently attacked by 41-year-old drifter Thomas Alfred Taylor.
As part of her defense, Clinton went after Shelton’s credibility. She wanted Shelton to be psychiatrically evaluated for her emotional stability, claiming the child had exhibited “a tendency to seek out older men and engage in… fantasizing.”
Clinton argued that “children in early adolescence tend to exaggerate or romanticize sexual experiences and that adolescents with disorganized families, such as the complainant, are even more prone to such behavior.”
In an exclusive sit-down interview with the Daily Mail, Shelton stated of Clinton’s role in the case; “It’s put a lot of anger back in me.”
“Every time I see [Clinton] on TV I just want to reach in there and grab her, but I can’t do that,” she continued.
“I don’t think [Clinton’s] for women or girls. I think she’s lying, I think she said anything she can to get in the campaign and win,” Shelton said. “If she was [an advocate for women and children], she wouldn’t have done that to me at 12 years old.”
In the case Clinton, Clinton negotiated a plea deal in which Taylor, facing a possible 30-year sentence, received just one year in county jail and four years of probation for the crime of fondling a minor instead of rape.
The case was particularly violent and went well beyond fondling, Taylor said. She said the incident left her with internal injuries and damaged her ability to bear children.
The Daily Mail reported:
On May 10, 1975, Shelton, an outgoing 12-year-old tomboy, had been riding her bike around the neighborhood when she first encountered Taylor – who worked at a paper factory at the time – and an underage male at one of her friend’s houses.
The Washington County Sherriff’s Office said the case files from the assault were unavailable and may have been lost in a flood, making it difficult to compile an independent account of the case.
But according to a timeline reported by Newsday in 2008, Shelton got into Taylor’s truck after he said he would take her to get a soda.
Taylor drove to a ‘weedy ravine’, where he and his 15-year-old male acquaintance raped her.
“They denied it and said I asked for it,” said Shelton. “Do you think I would ask to have several stitches down there and not have kids? No, I wouldn’t.”
Added the Daily Mail:
Medical examinations ‘reflected that the victim herein had, in fact, had sexual relations consistent with the time stated by her wherein she was attacked,’ according to court filings.
Shelton said she managed to escape her attackers to a nearby house that had a light on, and later woke up in the hospital.
In 2014, the Washington Free Beacon published audio recordings from a mid-1980s interview that Clinton gave about the case to Arkansas reporter Roy Reed.
Clinton is eerily heard laughing or giggling when discussing the case and how she got the rapist off the hook despite acknowledging that she believed Taylor to be guilty.
The Washington Post transcribed the four instances in which Clinton can be heard chuckling:
•“Of course he [the defendant] claimed he didn’t [rape]. All this stuff. He took a lie detector test. I had him take a polygraph, which he passed, which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs.” (Both Clinton and the reporter laugh)
•“So I got an order to see the evidence and the prosecutor didn’t want me to see the evidence. I had to go to Maupin Cummings [the judge] and convince Maupin that yes indeed I had a right to see the evidence before it was presented. (Clinton laughs lightly between “evidence” and “before”)
•“I handed it [a biography of her expert witness] to Mahlon Gibson, and I said, ‘Well this guy’s ready to come up from New York to prevent this miscarriage of justice.’” (Clinton laughs, as does the reporter)
•“So [judge] Maupin had to, you know, under law he was supposed to determine whether the plea was factually supported. Maupin asked me to leave the room while he examined my client so that he could find out if it was factually supported. I said ‘Judge I can’t leave the room I’m his lawyer!’ he said ‘I know but I don’t want to talk about this in front of you.’” (Reporter says, “Oh God, really?” And they both laugh.)
Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin defended the giggling: “In the interview she called this a ‘terrible case,’ and it’s clear she is pained to recall it,” Schwerin told the Post. “The reactions that you mention were very clearly expressions of disbelief at breakdowns in the handling of the case and absurdities she encountered within the court system’s bureaucracy.”
In an interview with the British website Mumsnet, Clinton defended her role in the case: “When you’re a lawyer you often don’t have the choice as to who you will represent,” she said. “And by the very nature of criminal law there will be those you represent you don’t approve of. But, at least in our system, you have an obligation. And once I was appointed I fulfilled that obligation.”
Clinton has sought to make women’s advocacy into a major issue of her presidential campaign.
“You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed. We’re with you,” Clinton said in the video ad in November, which she addressed to “every survivor of sexual assault.” Clinton posted the ad on her Twitter account in addition to releasing the spot on
Bill Clinton rape accuser Juanita Broaddrick, who says Hillary tried to encourage her to remain silent, took issue with that ad in a series of interviews with this reporter.
This past Sunday, I asked Broaddrick whether she believes Hillary thinks that Broaddrick has a right to be heard and believed.
Broaddrick replied:
No she doesn’t think that I do or any of Bill’s other victims. I could not believe that, Aaron. When that tweet came out and someone called it to my attention I thought, “My goodness did this woman do this on her own? Without any advice from the people who advise her?” It was absolutely the most arrogant, stupid thing that she could have ever done.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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