President Trump is the perfect person for reporters to seek comment from when a fellow rich old white man gets caught up in a sex scandal. After all, who better to relate to the emotions of assumed privilege being ignored by charges of sexual exploitation than the man who has had his hush money payments to hide his illicit adulterous affairs exposed for all to see.
So it was only natural for White House correspondents to seek the president’s comments on the news that his friend and political supporter, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, had been implicated in a prostitution sting operation by police in Jupiter, Florida, not far from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort that Kraft has been known to frequent.
“It’s very sad. I was very surprised to see it. He’s proclaimed his innocence totally,” Trump said, echoing his ready acceptance of Vladimir Putin’s denials of proven Russian interference in U.S. elections.
President Trump on charges against Robert Kraft: "It's very sad. I was very surprised to see it. He's proclaimed his innocence totally." pic.twitter.com/RjjJfwVOqh
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 22, 2019
The 77-year-old NFL mogul is charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution — charges his PR staff have unconditionally denied.
“We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity,” Kraft’s spokesperson said in a statement. “Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting further.”
Jupiter police chief Daniel Kerr explained the impetus for the investigation that resulted in the charges against Kraft:
“Our concern in this investigation centers around the possibility of victims of human trafficking,” Chief Kerr revealed.
The charges are an embarrassment to not only the geriatric sports team owner, but to his close friend the president who has been promoting his border wall scheme with graphic descriptions of human sex trafficking that he claims is being perpetrated by undocumented immigrants crossing a wall-less border.
Not surprisingly, Trump made no mention of human trafficking in his comments about his own friend’s involvement with a massage parlor that may have been associated with sex trafficking.
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Original reporting by John Bowden at The Hill.
