Report: Civil rights lawyer solicited donations for Trump accusers

A civil rights lawyer named Lisa Bloom solicited donations to pay women who have made or were considering making sexual harassment allegations against President Trump, The Hill reported Friday. Documents reviewed by The Hill date these efforts to the final months of the 2016 election and suggest that people associated with political action committees supporting Hillary Clinton were among those Bloom contacted.

"Bloom's efforts included offering to sell alleged victims' stories to TV outlets in return for a commission for herself," The Hill story says, as well as "arranging a donor to pay off one Trump accuser's mortgage and attempting to secure a six-figure payment for another woman who ultimately declined to come forward after being offered as much as $750,000."

Bloom told The Hill donors came to her with the money, not vice versa, and "said her goal in securing money was not to pressure the women to come forward, but rather to help them relocate or arrange security" if they felt they were in danger after speaking out.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America on Saturday, Bloom again denied soliciting money, saying "donors reached out" to her "and said, 'Oh my God, what can we do to help these women?'" "If you're a single mom unemployed on the verge of bankruptcy and thinking about speaking out against Donald Trump," she added, "an offer of relocation and round-the-clock security is very meaningful to you."