ABC News' Alex Castellanos on Rob Porter: “Even the mullahs in Iran give you a hearing before they stone you”

Castellanos: “Rob Porter may be a reformed creep who has learned something and become better for it.”

From the February 11 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

Video file

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (HOST): Alex Castellanos, in this way, the president is actually pretty transparent. What we saw in that Oval Office pool spray, what we saw in the tweets yesterday morning, is exactly what he thinks. 

ALEX CASTELLANOS: It's what he is. This president in many ways is the predator, the T-rex that his voters sent to Washington to protect them from the other smaller, slimier predators in Washington. He's instinctive. He's visceral. There's a reason he has problems with women. I think this president would say, I've never grabbed a woman I didn't respect. That's a real problem. But a lot of Trump voters also look at this and say, wait a minute, we're going to stone this guy? Even the mullahs in Iran give you a hearing before they stone you. Yes, let’s believe the women, but trust but verify. The mob has gathered. The mob has gathered. Charges have been made. Is that enough? 

MEGAN MURPHY: Look, I want to take what Matthew said and double down on it. Women die because of silence in this situation. Women die because they're not believed. Women die in these situations. It is of the utmost seriousness, and I want to say to any women who have heard these stories, we should make this very clear, if you have this, if this is happening to you in your relationship, let’s take this out of politics for a second. If this is happening to you, please come forward as Chris Christie said. Do exactly as these women did. Contact your local law enforcement. Tell your family members. Please come forward and say it. And also to our first responders, so many of our police force who are on the front lines of dealing with this true epidemic in society, thank you so much for responding. It is not about the mullahs in Iran. It is about women and believing them when they come forward. These stories -- 

CASTELLANOS: Rob Porter may be a creep who pummels women with his fists -- 

MURPHY: He's more than a creep. He's a domestic violence --  

CASTELLANOS: Rob Porter may be a reformed creep who has learned something and become better for it. He may be a decent man, we don't know. 

MURPHY: I hope he has. 

CASTELLANOS: Yes, let's believe. But let's also listen a little more than that -- 

DAVID AXELROD: They had the information, Alex, for --

MURPHY: For a year

AXELROD: 13 months. So it's not as if he -- by the way, being removed as staff secretary is not stoning, OK? But they have had the information --  

CASTELLANOS: It's destruction of life. 

AXELROD: Well, so is domestic abuse. 

CASTELLANOS: And we're all against that. 

Previously

David Gregory praises Sen. Orrin Hatch's response to allegations against Rob Porter. Hatch called the women who spoke up “morally bankrupt.”

“White supremacist rallies, child molesters, domestic abusers”: Jake Tapper points out Rob Porter is another predator Trump has defended

Fox's Ari Fleischer excuses the Trump administration's inaction on Rob Porter because it “could have been a he said, she said”