Melania Trump Speaks Out on the #MeToo Movement: ‘You Need to Show the Evidence’
Melania Trump says she stands by the women who have courageously come forward with their claims of sexual assault and harassment as part of the #MeToo movement — but seemingly echoed her husband’s controversial empathy for the accused in a new interview.
The first lady — whose husband, President Donald Trump, faced allegations of sexual misconduct by multiple women over the course of the 2016 presidential campaign, which he has denied — stayed mostly neutral on the topic in the ABC News sit-down, which was filmed during her recent trip to Africa.
“I support the women and they need to be heard. We need to support them and also men, not just women,” Mrs. Trump said, in a clip from the piece that aired on Wednesday’s Good Morning America.
Asked if men who have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct have been treated unfairly, the former fashion model stated, “We need to have really hard evidence that you know, that if you are accused of something, show the evidence.”
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Her remarks come in the wake of the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexually assaulting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford while the two were in high school.
On Saturday, while speaking in front of the Sphinx, Mrs. Trump opened up about the controversy — saying, “I‘m glad that Dr. Ford was heard, I’m glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard.”
“I would say if we’re talking about the Supreme Court and Judge Kavanaugh, I think he’s highly qualified for the Supreme Court,” she said, CNN reported. “I will move on that and I think that all the victims they need — we need to help all the victims no matter what kind of abuse they had, but I am against any kind of abuse or violence.”
RELATED VIDEO: PEOPLE Writer Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack
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Meanwhile, some of the women who accused Mr. Trump of sexual harassment or assault still wonder when the president might finally pay a price for what he allegedly did to them.
Over the course of his campaign, more than 10 alleged on the record that Mr. Trump had touched, grabbed or kissed them without their permission. Their stories — like the harrowing one PEOPLE writer Natasha Stoynoff shared of Trump allegedly attacking her in 2005 by pushing her up against a wall at Mar-a- Lago and shoving his tongue down her throat — are backed up in most cases by co-workers, friends or family members.
President Trump has repeatedly denied all their claims. In response to Stoynoff’s allegations, Mrs. Trump also vehemently denied the reporter’s account. “The story that came out in PEOPLE magazine, the writer she said my husband took her to the room and started kissing her, she wrote in the same story about me that she saw me on 5th avenue, and I said to her ‘Natasha, how come we don’t see you anymore?’ I was never friends with her, I would not recognize her,” she said during a CNN interview. “That never happened, I was never friends with her, I saw her, she interviewed us twice, she came to the wedding, and for that story, that’s it. I would not recognize her on the street or ask her why we don’t see her anymore, so that was another thing like people come out saying lies and not true stuff.”
RELATED: Donald Trump’s Sexual Assault Accusers Demand Justice in the #MeToo Era: ‘We Were Forgotten’
In February, some of Trump’s alleged victims spoke to PEOPLE about their fears of their claims begin forgotten.
“Things just seem to fall off of Trump, I’m extremely disappointed,” said Jessica Leeds, 75, who alleges Trump tried to kiss her, fondle her breasts and put his hand up her skirt while on a flight to New York in the early 1980s.
“I feel this issue has been ‘on hold’ all year, but not forgotten,” added Stoynoff in an email. “It’s been simmering on the stove with the lid on, like a pressure cooker. But now the heat’s on and it’s going to boil and the lid is going to blast off.”
This article originally appeared on People. For more stories like this, visit people.com.