Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) went all-in in defense of former President Donald Trump during a campaign stop of his in New Hampshire on Friday night, lashing out at the media and saying she doesn’t believe E. Jean Carroll, who a jury found was sexually abused by Trump in the dressing room of a department store in the 1990s.
Stefanik, who has been considered a potential VP pick by those in Trump’s inner circle since at least last year, was asked about Carroll after she had helped introduce Trump on stage.
“How do you grapple with standing by [Trump’s] side while a jury is debating how much to award E. Jean Carroll for being sexually abused by Donald Trump?” asked NBC News correspondent Vaughn Hillyard, referring to the ongoing defamation trial spurred by Trump’s relentless attacks.
Stefanik first complained that “these are witch hunts against” Trump, after which Hillyard twice asked her if she “believed” Carroll.
“No, of course not!” the congresswoman exclaimed.
“The media is so biased,” she added a bit later. “This is just another example of the media being out of touch—” she continued, before Hillyard interjected.
“It’s not me. It’s not the media. It’s a jury that found that he sexually abused” Carroll, he said.
But Stefanik insisted that “the media” is somehow to blame.
The press “is so out of the touch with the American people,” said Stefanik, who earlier this month engaged in some good old fashioned pandering to Trump by calling those imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection “hostages” and refusing to say she’d vote to certify the 2024 election results if Trump lost.
Stefanik then likened the upcoming election to 2016.
“You are going to see the American people speak out loudly and clearly with their vote. We are so tired of the biased media shilling for Joe Biden every single day,” she said, promising that the four-times indicted former president will “restore the rule of law” if elected again.
Just last month, Trump refused to rule out breaking the law as president.
