Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University and a prominent Donald Trump supporter, said Thursday that Mr. Trump informed him in a conversation Wednesday that he has evidence to disprove new allegations that the GOP presidential nominee inappropriately touched a number of women years ago.
“I talked to him last night. He called me,” Mr. Falwell said Thursday on Fox News. “He was telling me all the evidence he has — email evidence — that these accusations from these ladies are untrue, completely.”
“He was just beside himself and couldn’t believe that the press was running with a story like that. That’s why he released the statement last night that categorically denied all the accusations,” Mr. Falwell said.
Several women have come forward in recent days to accuse Mr. Trump of making inappropriate touches, kisses or advances on them years ago. Mr. Trump has vehemently denied the accusations, and a Trump attorney is calling for a retraction of a New York Times story published Wednesday in which two women shared such experiences.
“He’s a different man than the man you saw on that videotape a few years ago, 11 years ago,” Mr. Falwell said, referring to a recently-unearthed 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape on which Mr. Trump boasts about using his celebrity status to force himself on women.
The GOP nominee said at Sunday’s presidential debate that he never actually did the things he talked about doing on the tape.
“He truly wants what’s best for the American people, I believe strongly, and I believe he’s going to win,” said Mr. Falwell, who is taking some heat back home this week for his steadfast support of Mr. Trump.
A group of students say they’re dismayed that Mr. Trump has become so closely associated with the Lynchburg, Virginia, school, which bills itself as the world’s largest Christian university, because Mr. Falwell is personally supporting him for president.
“Not only is Donald Trump a bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things that we as Christians oppose,” read a statement issued this week by the group Liberty United Against Trump.
The statement said any faculty or staff member would be fired for the comments Mr. Trump made on the 2005 tape, and yet Mr. Falwell rushed to Mr. Trump’s defense afterward.
“It is not enough to criticize these comments,” the statement said. “We must make clear to the world that while everyone is a sinner and everyone can be forgiven, a man who consistently and proudly speaks evil does not deserve our support for the nation’s highest office.”
Mr. Falwell was also asked Thursday about concern that evangelical Christians might question whether or not it’s morally the right thing to do to support Mr. Trump at this point, given the events in the past week.
“Unlike Hillary Clinton, I have faith in the intelligence and the savvy of the American people, of evangelicals, and they, better than anybody else, understand that Christianity is about forgiveness. It’s about repentance,” he said.
“They have seen the change in Donald Trump. I’ve seen it personally,” he said. “He’s not the same person he was one, two, three, four, five years ago. He’s learned so much from the people since he’s become a politician. He’s seen the suffering of the American people. That’s positively influenced him.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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