Top Trump surrogate doesn't consider grabbing a woman's vagina sexual assault
After the phrase "grab them by the pussy" went viral on Friday, most commentators immediately agreed that the phrase implied sexual assault.
But not all. On Monday, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a top Trump surrogate, explained to The Weekly Standard that "grabbing" a woman's vagina was not in fact, sexual assault, and that any attempt to interpret it that way was "a stretch."
What exactly the act was, Sessions couldn't explain. The Senator further struggled to imagine how such an event could even physically transpire.
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The Weekly Standard: "But beyond the language, would you characterize the behavior described in that [video] as sexual assault if that behavior actually took place?"
Sessions: "I don't characterize that as sexual assault. I think that's a stretch. I don't know what he meant.
The Weekly Standard: "So if you grab a woman by the genitals, that's not sexual assault?"
Sessions "I don't know. It's not clear that he—how that would occur."
For some, sexual assault in limited to acts of forced sexual intercourse. But the Department of Justice currently defines sexual assault as "any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient."
Included in that list are a range of sexual activities including "forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape."
It is unclear how grabbing a woman's vagina without her expressed consent would not fall under the umbrella definition. Following Sessions' comment, some people on Twitter began to compare the Senator to former Missouri Representative Todd Akin, best known for using the term "legitimate rape."
In 2014, Akin famously explained that the female body has ways of "shutting down" "legitimate rape."
For Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, Sessions' comments even trumped Akin's in their level of confusion and disrespect.
Trump has denied committing any acts of sexual assault. The language he used in the leaked video, Trump explained, was simple "locker room talk."
Sessions previously spoke at the Republican National Convention, and his been a powerful surrogate for Trump throughout the election cycle.
BONUS: This is what real locker room talk looks like
Topics Donald Trump
Heather was the Web Trends reporter at Mashable NYC. Prior to joining Mashable, Heather wrote regularly for UPROXX and GOOD Magazine, was published in The Daily Dot and VICE, and had her work featured in Entertainment Weekly, Jezebel, Mic, and Gawker. She loves small terrible dogs and responsible driving. Follow her on Twitter @wear_a_helmet.
