Maggie Haberman writes:

If any voters had forgotten that Donald J. Trump was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, he spent roughly 45 minutes reminding them on Friday, eight weeks before Election Day.

At a lectern in the lobby of Trump Tower, Mr. Trump, flanked by seven of his lawyers, laid out years-old allegations from the women in detail as he denied that they were telling the truth. He had just attended a federal appeals court hearing related to a civil case in which he was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming a New York writer, E. Jean Carroll, decades earlier. Mr. Trump was not required to attend the hearing, but decided he wanted to.

When the hearing was over, he went to his eponymous building for what the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign called a “press conference.” But he ended it without taking questions, and the session — during which Mr. Trump criticized his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, for avoiding reporters — was more like a venting exercise over his frustrations about his legal travails.

Mr. Trump — who is badly trailing with women voters in polling — used the time Friday to insult the lawyers working for him, saying he was “disappointed” in them before adding that they’re “talented,” as they stood, mute, in a row next to him. He declared that Ms. Carroll’s claim that a dress she owned may have had Mr. Trump’s DNA on it was inspired by Monica Lewinsky, referring to the White House intern whose life was forever changed after she had a sexual relationship with former President Bill Clinton. He couldn’t remember one of the accuser’s names, and spent time at the lectern searching for it through the rectangular note cards he held.

Of another accuser, Jessica Leeds, who alleged an assault on an airplane, he said, “She said I was making out with her. And then, after 15 minutes — and she changed her story a couple times, maybe it was quicker — then I grabbed her at a certain part and that’s when she had enough.”

He added, “Think of the impracticality of this: I’m famous, I’m in a plane, people are coming into the plane. And I’m looking at a woman, and I grab her and I start kissing her and making out with her. What are the chances of that happening?”

And, for emphasis, he suggested that one of the accusers wasn’t attractive enough for him to have made a move on. “Frankly — I know you’re going to say it’s a terrible thing to say — but it couldn’t have happened, it didn’t happen, and she would not have been the chosen one,” he said.

Mr. Trump, who is set next week for what may be his only debate against Ms. Harris, had no staff who were visible nearby. His son Eric stood near the barricades reporters were positioned behind.

It’s rather rare for a presidential nominee accused of sexual misconduct to willingly put it at the forefront of the public consciousness so close to the moment voters will be casting ballots. But Mr. Trump likes to speak to reporters and in front of cameras, and believes he is his own best defender.

Such a belief carries risks for Mr. Trump, who, over the 45 minutes, undoubtedly gave Ms. Harris’s ad team plenty of material to work with. [Continue reading…]