--- title: Melania Trump Says #MeToo Accusers Need to Show the Evidence description: First Lady Melania Trump spoke out about the #MeToo movement, saying she supports women but that accusers "need to show the evidence." canonical: https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-10T15:11:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:02:25.082Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Says #MeToo Accusers 'Need to Show the Evidence' og:description: "You cannot just say to somebody, 'I was sexually assaulted.'" og:url: https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ecbb62c4b4d5acc/69893c068fd2eeed7a35ccf5/melania-trump-kavanaugh-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4896 og:image:height: 2754 og:image:alt: melania-trump-kavanaugh-egypt og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Says #MeToo Accusers 'Need to Show the Evidence' twitter:description: "You cannot just say to somebody, 'I was sexually assaulted.'" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ecbb62c4b4d5acc/69893c068fd2eeed7a35ccf5/melania-trump-kavanaugh-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Says #MeToo Accusers 'Need to Show the Evidence' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2d5c0d49-3730-4a1f-bc71-1c55cd8e4604&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The #MeToo Movement: One Year Later [Watch (HLS stream): The #MeToo Movement: One Year Later](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qOAYRssp.m3u8) (4:41)  _Published 2018-10-10. #MeToo transformed into a global movement, so what's changed over the course of a year._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 10, 2018 3:11 PM UTC #MeToo transformed into a global movement, so what's changed over the course of a year.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 10, 2018 3:11 PM UTC First Lady Melania Trump spoke out about the #MeToo movement, saying she supports women but that accusers “need to show the evidence.” [Speaking to ABC](https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/melania-trump-weighs-metoo-movement-58402076) on her recent trip to Africa, Trump said, “I do stand with women. But we need to show the evidence. You cannot just say to somebody, ‘I was sexually assaulted or you did that to me,’ because sometimes the media goes too far and the way they portray some stories, it’s not correct.” Trump’s trip to Africa, her first solo trip abroad, came as her husband’s Administration battled a high profile sexual assault allegation back home. California psychology professor [Christine Blasey Ford](http://time.com/5415027/christine-blasey-ford-testimony/) accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both in high school. On Oct. 6, as Melania Trump flew back to D.C., Kavanaugh [was confirmed](http://time.com/5417538/bett-kavanaugh-confirmed-senate-supreme-court/) to the Supreme Court. During the Kavanaugh controversy, President Donald Trump [said](http://time.com/5412955/donald-trump-says-scary-time-men-sexual-assault-allegations/) that “it is a very scary time for young men in America.” (Multiple women have also accused Trump of sexual misconduct.) Melania Trump echoed her husband’s sentiment about how #MeToo affects men. “I support the women and they need to be heard,” she told ABC. “We need to support them. And also men, not just women.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:07] A year ago, the New York Times and the The New [00:09] Yorker published a exposes that brought down Harvey [00:12] Weinstein and sparked a global conversation around [00:15] sexual harassment in the work place. The metoo [00:18] movement was started by Tarana Burke more than a [00:20] decade ago but became last year's viral rallying cry for [00:24] survivors to share their stories of sexual assault, and [00:27] harassment. Prompting hundreds of alleged abusers to [00:30] lose positions Positions of power. Men at the pinnacle [00:33] of their industries like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer [00:36] and Les Moonves were held to account. According to [00:39] Bloomberg, there have been at least 425 prominent [00:42] individuals since October of 2017 That have been [00:45] publicly accused of sexual misconduct, that behavior [00:48] that spans rape to lewd conduct. # MeToo started out [00:52] as a hashtag for survivors, primarily women, to tell [00:56] their stories of assault and harassment. And fairly [01:00] quickly turned into actionable information. It has [01:05] led to some very high profile figures not only [01:09] falling from grace, but in some cases coming under [01:12] criminal investigation and having a day in court. And [01:16] variations of the campaign has made headway in [01:19] countries across Europe Africa, the Middle East, and [01:22] South America. According to Meltwater, a social media [01:25] monitoring firm, the MeToo hashtag has appeared in [01:28] almost fourteen million public tweets. After [01:32] # METOOwent viral in the US, it spread across the [01:35] world. It became this thing where we realized it wasn't [01:37] just an America problem, it wasn't just a woman [01:40] problem, it was an everywhere problem. While [01:43] headlines suggest a more supportive society for [01:45] women who speak up, the reality is much more [01:48] complicated. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony before [01:51] the Senate Judiciary Commitee for Brett Kavanaugh's [01:53] Supreme Court nomination, who she says assaulted her [01:56] at a high school party in the 1980's, an allegation he [02:00] denies, serves as a stark example. The Senate voted [02:03] 50 to 48 to send Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme [02:06] Court, but not before Ford was asked to relive her [02:09] experience on a national scale, and was mocked by [02:12] the president of the United States. The movements [02:15] faced backlash and unintended consequences that in [02:18] some ways have made it harder for women to advance [02:20] in their career. Some powerful men that lost their jobs [02:24] over misconduct allegations have quietly started to [02:26] reemerge. In a national poll of 1, 000 women [02:29] conducted by Time with SSRS, 60 % of the women felt [02:33] the environment for women in their workplace hasn't [02:36] changed since # MeToo. 51 % went on to say they're [02:39] not any more likely to report sexual harassment than [02:42] before the hashtag went viral. We circled back with the [02:46] number of women that we interviewed at the beginning [02:49] of the Me Too movement. And many of them are still [02:51] working next to their harassers and assailants. Many of [02:54] them are tied up in years long lawsuits. And I think [02:58] they're rather upset that this is still ongoing fully. [03:02] And they are spending a lot of money on those [03:05] lawsuits. And I think that they're rather Upset that [03:09] this is still ongoing. So what's changed in the past year? [03:14] The movement has started a conversation between [03:16] men and women about the inequality. It started a [03:19] conversation that a lot of people were not having for a [03:22] very long time. But as the dust settles, questions [03:25] remain how systematic inequality is addressed. Some [03:28] corporations have changed their contacts. Simon and [03:31] Schuster has added a morality clause to their deals. [03:34] While other states have revisited their loss, states like [03:37] Vermont and Delaware have expanded their sexual [03:40] harassment protections. Laws have passed in [03:42] California and New York to make it easier to report [03:45] abuse, and require company harassment training. But [03:48] Congress has yet to pass any laws related to [03:51] workplace sexual harassment. Companies are left to [03:54] devise their own individual HR policies for better or [03:58] worse. In order for national change to happen, Then [04:01] the government needs to say this standard is [04:03] unacceptable and we need to force companies to [04:08] make change in order for women to be able to [04:12] feel safe in the workplace. No one movement can [04:15] address generations of systematic abuses but the next [04:19] year still offers hope for the year to come. [ MUSIC ] [04:22] The second year of the Me Too movement hopefully [04:25] adds more nuance to the conversations. I think that we [04:28] have toppled some of the worst offenders. I [04:32] don't think that we have really looked and that's going [04:35] to require men examining how even passively they've [04:39] contributed to a toxic culture. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Says #MeToo Accusers 'Need to Show the Evidence'","datePublished":"2018-10-10T15:11:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:02:25.082Z","description":"First Lady Melania Trump spoke out about the #MeToo movement, saying she supports women but that accusers \"need to show the evidence.\"","url":"https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","Melania Trump","onetime","MeToo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ecbb62c4b4d5acc/69893c068fd2eeed7a35ccf5/melania-trump-kavanaugh-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ecbb62c4b4d5acc/69893c068fd2eeed7a35ccf5/melania-trump-kavanaugh-egypt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"melania-trump-kavanaugh-egypt","caption":"Melania Trump in Egypt","creditText":"MOHAMED HOSSAM/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/","name":"Melania Trump Says #MeToo Accusers 'Need to Show the Evidence'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The #MeToo Movement: One Year Later","description":"#MeToo transformed into a global movement, so what's changed over the course of a year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qOAYRssp/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-10-10T21:12:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qOAYRssp.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/","duration":"PT4M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5420453/melania-trump-metoo-evidence-africa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```