A CNN host defended Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace after her explosive Sunday exchange with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos about rape.
Mace, who said she was raped at the age of 16, got into an intense exchange as Stephanopolous pressed her on supporting former President Donald Trump following the E. Jean Carroll civil suit. A jury found Trump liable of sexual battery and defamation, and did not find him liable of rape.
“So just to be clear, Michael, the question was, as to how could she support — Donald Trump, who has been found civilly liable for sexual assault and rape? He said rape. And the question, considering her own history, was — what was your takeaway from this exchange?” CNN host Kasie Hunt said Monday.
“Okay. Well, I appreciate the fact that you were much more precise than was George Stephanopoulos, because I watched it,” CNN’s Michael Smerconish said. “And then early this morning, I pulled the verdict slip. I have it in my hand. He wasn’t found to have raped Jean Carroll. It was sexual abuse that he was found civilly responsible for. By the way, if you’re differentiating between rape and civil and sexual abuse, like, you’re losing, none of these are a good thing. Let’s acknowledge that.”
He said that Stephanopoulos’ question was “imprecise,” and that Mace’s answer was “evasive.”
“Of course I’m sympathetic to her as a rape victim, but — despite the fact that she’s a rape victim, she should’ve answered the question he was asking which is ‘how can you of all people be comfortable supporting him given the outcome of this case?'” Smerconish continued. (RELATED: Trump Appeals E. Jean Carroll Verdict)
“So wait, here’s the thing where I get hung up on, though, Michael, and I think what she was trying to say is that just because she happens to be a victim of rape, doesn’t mean that she needs to let that victimhood define her and her future choices regardless of what anybody else thinks about how she should feel about someone who commits those kinds of crimes, right? Like, do you think it should be okay to let the rapist have that kind of power over her future life?” Hunt said in defense of Mace.
“So, if it weren’t Nancy Mace that we were talking about and if it were any other individual, a female member of the House, Republican, supportive of Donald Trump, is it a fair question to say in light of the Jean Carroll civil verdict, how are you comfortable in supporting him? I think that’s a totally appropriate — in fact, I think it’s an appropriate question for man, woman, anybody to ask. So now, Kasie, given her history, is it unfair to ask her? I don’t think that it is. I don’t think she gets a pass from the question because of her unfortunate history.”
“Well, I mean I think it’s just — the fact that it was put in those terms, like ‘as a rape victim how could you?'” Hunt replied. “But fair enough, I take your point.”
Mace accused Stephanopoulos during the interview of “shaming” her, a rape victim, for her political choices.
Carroll accused Trump of raping her inside of a department store in the mid-1990’s, resulting in the first lawsuit where a jury awarded her $5 million in damages. She filed a second lawsuit against the former president for alleged defamatory statements about her in 2019, in which a separate jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages.