Trump's Repulsive Response to His Female Accusers Rings of Defamation

Six of Stoynoff's friends and co-workers have corroborated parts of her story. Upset, she called a former journalism professor in tears the night of the incident; he advised her to stay quiet for fear of retaliation. Upset, she called a close friend, Marina Grasic, the next day, to recount the incident. Upset, she told three People colleagues after returning to New York.

Oh, and also, that moment when she bumped into Melania Trump outside Trump Tower, which Melania Trump says didn't happen? Another Stoynoff friend recalls the encounter.

In other words: To discount Stoynoff's story, you would have to believe that she was prescient enough to describe to five friends and colleagues an encounter with Trump that mirrored his own taped account that would emerge 11 years later.

To buy that this story was engineered by the Clinton campaign, well, you would have to believe that in 2005, when the notion of Trump running for president was a punch line at best, Clinton and her minions brilliantly recruited Stoynoff to concoct this story and plant the seeds of corroboration to spring on Trump years later, after the "Access Hollywood" tape leaked. Or that the campaign enlisted six witnesses in a current conspiracy to lie on their behalf.

The evidence in Trump's favor? The butler says he didn't do it. That is, nothing seemed amiss when he walked in on Trump and Stoynoff. This would be the butler who posted on Facebook that President Obama "should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent" and said it was astonishing that "a common murder[er] is even allowed to run (killery clinton)."

Mr. Trump, your witness.

Imagining this evidence assessed in court isn't just instructive -- it's tempting. Because while the time has long passed for filing charges over the underlying behavior, Trump's description of Stoynoff as "a liar" and "the dishonest writer from People magazine" opens the door to a defamation suit.

And the prospect of discovery, including Trump being forced to submit to a deposition. Imaging the man who threatens to sue everyone in sight having to answer questions about his conduct toward women, under oath. What a fitting coda for such an ugly campaign, and for such a, pardon the phrase, nasty man.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.