Donald Trump‘s national campaign spokesperson said Hillary Clinton has “failed miserably” at being a champion for women.
Katrina Pierson made the comments about the first female presidential nominee of a major party on Thursday night in an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News. Pierson appeared with Democratic National Committee member Robert Zimmerman to discuss whether it was fair game for Trump to bring up Bill Clinton’s infidelities in the two upcoming presidential debates after Clinton brought up Trump’s checkered record on women at the first presidential debate. Some have criticized the Trump campaign’s attempts to hold the former secretary of state accountable for her husband’s indiscretions sexist.
“This is not about Bill Clinton or what he did for that matter. This is solely about Hillary Clinton and what she did. She launched this campaign on sexism, she accused Bernie Sanders of sexism, and now they’re expecting Donald Trump to be accused of being a sexist and not defend himself,” Pierson told Kelly. “The reason why this is fair game is simply because this is about Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness and accountability. She knew that her husband was cheating on her and she blamed it on the ‘vast ring-wing conspiracy.’ She knew that this was happening and shifted the blame onto the women.”
Pierson added: “This is fair game. Some of the allegations made against Donald Trump are just that — allegations. She is calling herself the champion of women, and she has failed miserably.”
Pierson’s comments came just days after Trump ally Rudy Giuliani told Elite Daily that Clinton was “too stupid to be president” because she stayed with her husband after he cheated on her. Pierson referred to alleged comments that Hillary Clinton made about Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky, who both had relationships with Bill Clinton. The New York Times quoted former advisors who said Hillary Clinton and her advisors attempted to discredit Flowers and Lewinsky, and the Democratic nominee reportedly called Lewinsky “a narcissistic looney toon.”
Kelly, who pressed Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway on the candidate’s sexist comments on Wednesday night, asked Pierson if Clinton, who polls show has a lead with college-educated women female voters, deserved blame for wanting to trust and defend her husband, noting that many women who have been cheated on might sympathize with that.
“Of course she would want to fix that. But then you can’t go around and call yourself the champion of women. It’s the hypocrisy that’s the issue here,” Pierson said. “You can’t go around blaming other people for what you and your husband have done. That’s the problem.”
Watch the full clip here.
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Write to Samantha Cooney at samantha.cooney@time.com