At a conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and attorney to President Trump, told the crowd that Stormy Daniels’ career choices undermine her credibility.When asked at the “Globes” Capital Market conference if President Trump respects women, Giuliani defended Trump and denied allegations of his affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Giuliani said, “[…] I’m sorry I don’t respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn’t going to sell her body for sexual exploitation.” Later, Giuliani addressed Daniels directly, reported CNN, stating, “So Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross examine you. Because the business you’re in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight […] If you’re going to sell your body for money, you just don’t have a reputation.”
During his rant, “Globes” editor-in-chief Naama Sikuler, one of the event’s moderators, interrupted to quell his anger. “On this stage, we respect women,” she said, shooting down his comments that argue that women who are sex workers aren’t worthy of the same respect as any other woman with a job.Â
On Wednesday, Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded to Giuliani’s comments via Twitter. “Mr. Giuliani is a misogynist. His most recent comments regarding my client, who passed a lie detector test and who the American people believe, are disgusting and a disgrace. His client Mr. Trump didn’t seem to have any ‘moral’ issues with her and others back in 2006 and beyond,” Avenatti tweeted.
Mr. Giuliani is a misogynist. His most recent comments regarding my client, who passed a lie detector test and who the American people believe, are disgusting and a disgrace. His client Mr. Trump didn’t seem to have any “moral” issues with her and others back in 2006 and beyond.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) June 6, 2018
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This isn’t the first time Giuliani has made misogynistic comments, nor is it the first time that he has targeted Stormy Daniels. Just one month ago, Giuliani told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that President Trump had paid back his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, the $130,000 in hush money used to pay off Stormy Daniels. As an ardent defender of President Trump, he regularly makes public appearances to defend the president, all while casting more doubt on the official White House narrative that the affair never happened.
On Thursday, Giuliani appeared on CNN to defend himself from the criticism he received about his comments on Stormy Daniels. “If you’re a (feminist) and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials,” Giuliani told CNN.Â
There’s plenty of conversations within the larger feminist community about what it means to support sex workers (regardless of an individual’s feelings on the porn industry as a whole), but it is safe to say that Giuliani is not an authority on that discourse.Â