The Washington establishment — along with the financial and media corporations that fund it — exists to protect and enrich itself, GOP nominee Donald Trump charged Thursday, and the accusations he made sexual advances to women are just part of its struggle to keep that power.
In his first public appearance since Wednesday night's report by The New York Times about claims made by two women, the GOP nominee said he will provide evidence to disprove them at the "appropriate time."
"There is nothing the political establishment will not do – no lie that they won't tell," Trump said told supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla.
He made a wholesale condemnation against the media outlets — in particular, the Times — for publishing "false attacks" against him in connection with several women's allegations he had groped, grabbed and kissed them without their permission.
"The establishment has trillions of dollars at stake in this election," Trump said. "As an example, just one single trade deal they'd like to make, involved trillions of dollars controlled by many countries, corporations and lobbyists. For those who control the levers of power in Washington and for the local special interests, they partner with these people that don't have your good in mind. Our campaign represents a true existential threat like they haven't seen before."
Trump completely denied "vicious claims" made by several women, including two quoted in The New York Times, saying they are "totally and absolutely false, and the Clintons know it."
"They know it very well," Trump said. "These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction. And they're outright lies. These events never, ever happened. And the people that said them fully understand."
The claims, Trump said, are "preposterous, ludicrous, and defy truth, common sense and logic. We already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies, and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time, very soon."
The lies are coming from outlets, including the "failing New York Times," whose past stories and claims have been discredited.
"The media outlets did not even attempt to confirm the most basic facts," Trump said. "Even a simple investigation would have shown that these were nothing more than false smears."
Trump pointed out that six months ago, the Times, using the same reporters had another story attacking him, and the central witness denied its claims.
"Now today, the two discredited writers who should have been fired from The New York Times for what they did . . . the totally fabricated and false story that supposedly took place on an airplane more than 30 years ago," Trump said. "Another ridiculous tale. No witnesses. No nothing."
Trump also complained about People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote she was doing an interview in December 2005 with Trump and his wife, Melania, when he allegedly cornered her in one of the rooms at the couple's Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida and forcibly kissed her.
"The story was beautiful," Trump said of Stoynoff's original article, written 12 years ago, but he wants to know why her accusations weren't included back then.
"I was one of the biggest stars on television with 'The Apprentice,' and it would have been one of the biggest stories of the year," Trump said. "Think of it. She's doing a story on Melania – who's pregnant at the time – and Donald Trump. Our one-year anniversary. And she said I made inappropriate advances. And by the way, the area was a public area. People all over the place. Take a look. You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so."
Trump said the election is simply not another four-year education, but a "crossroads" that will determine if Americans will reclaim control over their government.
"The political establishment that is trying to stop this is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals," said Trump, telling the audience illegal immigration and foreign policies have "bled our country dry."
And the "Clinton machine" is at the center of the nation's power structure, Trump said.
"We've seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors," said Trump, standing back as the crowd chanted to "lock her up."
"Honestly, she should be locked up," Trump said. "She should be. And likewise the e-mails show that the Clinton machine is so closely and irrevocably tied to the media organizations that she – that she, listen to this, is given the questions and answers in advance of her debate performance with Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton is also given approval and veto power over quotes written about her in The New York Times. They definitely do not do that to me."
Trump continued the Clinton machine is determined to destroy his campaign, and has used the corporate media in their fight.
"The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism," he said. "They're a political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda. And the agenda is not for you, it's for themselves.
"And their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy . . . they will attack you. They will slander you. They will seek to destroy your career and your family. They will seek to destroy everything about you including your reputation. They will lie, lie, lie."
And, turning back to Clinton, her email server issues, including the destruction of 33,000 emails, are the worst cover-up "in history."
"People who are capable of such crimes against our nation are capable of anything," Trump said.
The real estate mogul said in the speech he knew "they" would "throw every lie they could at me and my family and my loved ones," and "knew they would stop at nothing to try to stop me."
However, he claimed he "never knew it would be this vile."
"Nevertheless, I take all of these slings and arrows gladly for you," Trump said. "I take them for our movement so we can have our country back. Our great civilization here in America and across the civilized world, has come upon a moment of reckoning."