‘I Believe Juanita’: Media Reverses Course on Bill Clinton’s Past

It’s a story that many have attempted to pass over or discredit throughout the years since its initial proclamation — that of Bill Clinton allegedly raping Juanita Broaddrick in her Arkansas hotel room.

Yet, it is a moment Broaddrick continues to speak out about, and claims to never forget.

Now, nearly four decades later, it seems the world — and the mainstream media — have begun to take notice.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes suggested in a tweet Friday that “Democrats and the center left are overdue for a real reckoning with the allegations against” Clinton.

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That statement is just one from a handful of journalists who are calling on Democrats to make their “own reckoning” of the accusations against Clinton, according to The Daily Caller.

On Monday, The New York Times published an op-ed piece from columnist Michelle Goldberg titled, “I Believe Juanita.”

Goldberg wasn’t the only one.

Also Monday, The Atlantic put out a piece from contributing editor Caitlin Flanagan that was headlined, “Bill Clinton: A Reckoning.” In it, Flanagan accused Clinton’s defenders of being “on the wrong side of history.”

This newfound stance from some in the media has come in the aftermath of assault accusations against multiple powerful, influential men, prompting more survivors of sexual abuse to come forward. Many have participated in the #MeToo campaign, where men and women are encouraged to share their experiences.

Broaddrick has not backed down from speaking about her experience.

Now 74, Broaddrick says the incident involving Bill Clinton happened when she was 35 and volunteering on his gubernatorial campaign.

It was early April 1978 when Broaddrick first met Clinton during a campaign trip after he stopped by the nursing home where she worked at the time. Broaddrick recalled that Clinton invited her to come to the campaign’s headquarters in Little Rock if she was ever in the area.

Later that month, Broaddrick was attending a nursing home conference in the state’s capital, according to National Review.

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Initially, the pair had planned to meet at a coffee shop in the hotel where Broaddrick was staying. But at the last minute, Broaddrick claims Clinton changed their plans and asked if they could go up to her hotel room in order to avoid reporters.

“I thought it was professional, completely,” Broaddrick claimed, though she admitted to feeling “a little bit uneasy.”

Broaddrick recalled that once they were in the room, Clinton raped her. In a detailed article about the alleged attack, the National Review cites Broaddrick’s resistance to Clinton’s advances, as well as the aftermath of the incident in which Norma Rogers, another woman attending the conference, had found Broaddrick “in a state of shock.”

Rogers said Broaddrick told her that Clinton had “forced himself on her.” She was not the only person Broaddrick confided in.

Goldberg made mention of these witnesses in her recent Times article.

“Five witnesses said she confided in them about the assault right after it happened,” Goldberg stated, though records indicate Broaddrick denied the rape in an affidavit to the attorneys of Paula Jones — another woman who accused Clinton of sexual assault. However, she changed her story when speaking with the FBI.

“Her explanation, that she didn’t want to go public but couldn’t lie to the F.B.I., makes sense,” Goldberg wrote. “Put simply, I believe her.”

Goldberg’s support caught Broaddrick by surprise, and she responded by taking to Twitter.

The backing of some in the mainstream media seems to be bittersweet for Broaddrick, who has always received wavering support for her claims. In 1999, she gave an interview to NBC News, but the channel failed to air her story “until Clinton’s impeachment process ended with an acquittal,” according to Fox News.

In the interview, Broaddrick recalled moments that made it difficult to share her experience, saying that in an attempt to keep her silent, Hillary Clinton intimidated her.

In 2016, investigative reporter Michael Isikoff called on NBC to release the full airing of the 1999 interview in response to Broaddrick’s claim that the show edited out part of the interview in which she called out Hillary Clinton for her alleged intimidation tactics.

It was also in 2016 that NBC “scrapped an interview” with the Clinton accuser, as reported by The Daily Caller. NBC claimed she didn’t have “anything new” to say about about what happened to her. Months later, anchor Andrea Mitchell deemed Broaddrick’s account a “discredited and long-denied accusation.”

Broaddrick, though, is standing by her claims.

“I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me,” Broaddrick tweeted last year. “I am now 73.”

“It never goes away.”

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