Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Thursday denounced President Trump for referring to Stormy Daniels as a “horseface,” saying it brought political insults to a “new low.”
Fiorina, who campaigned against Trump during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, appeared on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” to discuss Trump’s attacks on the adult-film star.
{mosads}”I think the habit of insulting one’s political enemies is unfortunately long standing in this country, and he has brought it to a new low,” Fiorina said.
Fiorina also faced insults on her appearance from Trump during the 2016 Republican Primaries.
“Look at that face,” then-candidate Trump told Rolling Stone of Fiorina. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard executive, said Thursday that she wasn’t surprised that Trump again went after a woman’s appearance.
“When people were shocked at Donald Trump’s comments about my appearance, I wasn’t because he wasn’t the first man to make comments about my appearance — positive or negative — and he won’t be the last man to do so,” she said.
Personal insults about appearance work in politics because they “rile people up,” Fiorina claimed.
“She is his adversary right now and I’m sure there are a lot of people who love him taking a shot at her,” she said. “I’m not one of them. I think it diminishes the office and I think it’s beneath him and I think it diminishes all women.”
Trump called Daniels a “horseface” in a tweet on Tuesday after he won a victory in the courtroom against her.
“’Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials [sic] lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.’ @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!’ he tweeted.
A federal judge in California threw out Daniels’s defamation lawsuit against the president and ordered her to repay his legal fees. Daniels is separately suing Trump and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen over a 2016 nondisclosure agreement regarding her claims she had an affair with Trump.
Daniels’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded to the comments by calling Trump a “disgusting misogynist” and a “liar.”
“You are a disgusting misogynist and an embarrassment to the United States. Bring everything you have, because we are going to demonstrate to the world what a complete shyster and liar you are. How many other women did you cheat on your wife with while you had a baby at home?” he tweeted.