On Sunday, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff accused former President Donald Trump of “gaslighting” America’s women when he said that he would be their protector.
The comments from Emhoff came while he appeared on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.” During the interview, he said it was “wrong” that his 83-year-old mother “is somehow going to enjoy more rights” than his daughter.
“This is all because of Donald Trump. He ran on a platform of women should be punished for seeking an abortion. He said that. There’s video. He ran on a platform of appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. They did just that. And he is for a national abortion ban,” Emhoff said.
“Make no mistake, where he says I will be the protector of women, that is yet more lies and more gaslighting,” he continued.
The former president has not backed a national abortion ban, instead continuing to insist that he views it as a “states’ rights” issue. Trump’s campaign has also said that the GOP nominee would not sign a federal abortion ban bill if he were president.
However, Trump sidestepped the question earlier this month when debating Vice President Kamala Harris, not giving a direct answer on what he would do.
Still, his campaign shared in a statement that Trump would not move forward with any national ban should he become president.
“President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will NOT sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House. President Trump also supports universal access to contraception and IVF,” Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement provided to The Hill.
As for the remarks from Emhoff, they seemed to be about Trump’s comments during a Pennsylvania rally last week, in which he said, “I am your protector.” He also said that if elected, he would ensure women were happy and “no longer thinking about abortion.”
“I will fix all of that, and fast, and at long last, this nation, and national nightmare, will end. It will end,” Trump said. “Because I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector. I hope you don’t make too much of it. I hope the fake news doesn’t go, ‘Oh, he wants to be their protector.’ Well, I am. As president, I have to be your protector.”