LAHORE: As President Donald Trump defends himself against a ghost from his past after allegations leveled by a journalist Jean Carroll have surfaced that he (Trump) had violently raped her many years ago, numerous eminent American politicians including a former US Vice President, Joe Biden, have demanded a probe.
Joseph Robinette Biden, who served as the 47th vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017, has been quoted by the American media as saying: “This is a serious allegation of sexual assault. It should be investigated by law-enforcement authorities, and as Congress proceeds toward its impeachment inquiry, this should be taken into account.”
Meanwhile, Cory Anthony Booker, the first African-American US Senator from New Jersey, has endorsed Biden by viewing: “Yes, Congress should investigate. A total of 24 women have now come forward accusing President Trump of sexual misconduct. What is it going to take for women’s stories to be heard and taken seriously here? These latest accusations fit into a larger pattern of alleged behavior by President Trump. As men, we must be allies, we must listen to women’s stories, we must stand with them, and we must believe them.”
Journalist Carroll is one of almost two dozen women to accuse the siting US President of some kind of sexual misconduct, though she is the first to emerge since Trump assumed the Presidency.
By the way, Jean Carroll is the second woman to accuse Trump of rape; the first was his first wife, Ivana Trump, in a deposition related to their 1989 divorce proceedings.
However, four years later, Ivana had released a statement that said, “I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”
Research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” shows that although dozens of world Presidents and Prime Ministers across the world have been accused till date of innumerable offences ranging from exchequer plundering, money laundering, receiving kickbacks through misuse of their powerful offices to kidnappings of political foes, murders of arch rivals and seeking unlawful funds from foreign countries for campaign financing etc, very few have actually been alleged of rape.
Trump thus features prominently in this list, which also includes former Gambian head of state, Yahya Jammeh, who has been accused by a beauty contest winner, Toufah Jallow, of rape.
British newspaper “The Guardian” has stated: “Two other unnamed women also accuse Jammeh of rape and sexual assault as investigation claims systematic abuse. A Gambian pageant winner has accused the country’s former president of rape as an investigation claims Yahya Jammeh systematically sexually abused young women.”
The noted media house has added: “Jammeh, who reluctantly stepped down 2017 after 22 years of rule, presented himself as a deeply religious figure and an advocate of girls’ rights and declared his small west African nation an Islamic republic. But Toufah Jallow claims he raped her as a teenager at a religious event on the eve of Ramadan. Two other women also accused Jammeh of rape and sexual assault in interviews with Human Rights Watch and Trial International, and eight former Gambian officials said they had direct knowledge Jallow is the only one disclosing her real name.”
Apart from Trump, a few other American Presidents were also found guilty of having ‘spicy relationships’.
A widely quoted book “A people and a nation: a history of the United States” has mentioned that former American President John F. Kennedy had numerous extra-marital affairs, including one with a 19-year old girl. Various other writers have claimed that the late Kennedy was involved in a deep relationship with Marilyn Monroe, the leading US actress of her time.
Kennedy did not live much but one of his successors, Bill Clinton, was found guilty of having an affair with a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
It was the investigation in this case that had eventually led to the impeachment of Clinton on December 19, 1998 by the US House of Representatives and his subsequent acquittal on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial that had started on January 7, 1999.
After his trial, Clinton said he was “profoundly sorry” for the burden his behavior imposed on Congress and the American people.
A woman, Paul Jones also alleged Clinton of sexual harassment. According to “The Washington Post”, As governor of Arkansas, former president Bill Clinton allegedly “propositioned [Paula Jones] and exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel room.”
Clinton never admitted to the sexual-harassment charges when the Paula Jones case was resurrected in the public eye during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
On March 22, 2011 an Israeli court had awarded a seven-year sentence to the country's former President, Moshe Katsav, on rape charges.
According to Al-Jazeera TV, the judges had also handed the former Israeli leader a two-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay a fine.
President Katsav was convicted in December 2010 of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice, following a four-year scandal that had rattled Israel.
Apart from accusations of corruption etc, the former four-time Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi, was also confronted with a host of sex scandals, which also led to his divorce in 2009.
In 2009, Berlusconi was accused of having an illicit relationship with a girl called Noemi Letizia, though he had denied it vehemently.
The Italian Press, including the famous newspapers “la Republica” and “Avvenire” had also printed a lot of truth and gossip about the Premier's friendship with a woman named Palazzo Grazioli, his 'paid associations' with a retired actress Patrizia D'Addario and a Bulgarian actress Michelle Bonev.
And then came the teenage Moroccan belly dancer and alleged prostitute, Karima El Mahroug alias Ruby Rubacuori, who claimed in November 2010 to have been given $10,000 by Berlusconi at 'nude parties' at his private villas.
On June 16, 1998 the former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega appeared in court to claim parliamentary immunity against sex abuse charges brought by his stepdaughter.
The “BBC News” had reported: “Mr Ortega, who was accompanied by his wife Rosario Murillo, said the accusations were a plot to undermine him. He presented documents to the judge showing his membership of the National Assembly and his immunity from prosecution. His stepdaughter, 30-year-old Zoilamerica Narvaez, said Mr Oretega repeatedly abused her from the age of 11.”
Former Zimbabwean President, Canaan Banana, was also arrested on charges of sodomy, following allegations made during the murder trial of his former bodyguard. Banana was found guilty of 11 charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault in 1998. He denied all charges, terming them “pathological lies”.
President Banana was sentenced in January 1999 to 10 years in jail, but he actually served six months in an open prison before being released in January 2001.