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Giuliani defends misogynistic rant against Stormy Daniels

"If you're a (feminist) and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials."

Rudy Giuliani on the White House lawn.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Rudy Giuliani on the White House lawn. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

During a CNN interview with Dana Bash on Thursday morning, President Donald Trump’s lawyer defended recent comments made about the credibility of adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

“If you’re a (feminist) and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials,” Giuliani said.

At a conference in Israel on Wednesday, Giuliani railed against Daniels, who received a hush payment just before the election to stay quiet about an affair she says she had with Trump. Giuliani claimed she has “no reputation” and placed his respect for sex workers below that of criminals.

“When you look at Stormy Daniels,” Guiliani started before the moderator interjected and said, “let’s respect her.”

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“I know Donald Trump…when you look at his three wives, right? Beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance, but Stormy Daniels?” Giuliani said.

Melania, however, posed nude over sixteen years ago for GQ magazine, undermining his own argument.

“I respect all women. I even have to respect criminals,” Giuliani said. “But I’m sorry, I don’t respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman, 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.”

Giuliani’s comments came the same day as a lawsuit filed by Stormy Daniels alleged the attorney who initially represented her in the deal with Trump, made through then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, was a “puppet” for the Trump team.

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The suit claims Trump knew of the collusion between Cohen and lawyer Keith Davidson, but Daniels did not. Davidson has denied the claims.

Rudy Giuliani, who publicly announced his separation from his second wife at a press conference without telling her, is not the ideal candidate to lecture on self-respect and feminism. Especially considering Giuliani is vehemently defending a  man accused by 22 women of sexual misconduct and whose first wife claimed she was raped by him during their marriage.

Trump himself is no stranger to the world of sex work, as detailed in a Twitter thread by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski.

Giuliani also seems to take no issue with Trump’s hush payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the president during his marriage to Melania.

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Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti has come to Daniels’ defense following the comments from Giuliani, characterizing him as an “absolute pig” for his comments.

Daniels profession has put an even larger target on her back, allowing the president’s supporters to completely discredit anything she says because she “sells her body for sexual exploitation.” Contrary to what this mostly-male administration, Congress and others believe, sex work is work and those who have a career in the field are no less credible than those any other field.