After Series of Controversial Remarks, Trump Refuses to Take Questions About Domestic Violence

At a White House meeting to discuss trade policy with lawmakers and cabinet members on Tuesday, President Donald Trump declined to answer reporters' questions about domestic violence, despite the ongoing controversy over tweets and statements from the president and his press team about the recent resignations of two staffers who were publicly accused of abusing former spouses.

While the president refused to engage with reporters, White House Press Secretary Huckabee Sanders defended the Trump administration's responses to the allegations during a press briefing on Tuesday, claiming: "We've condemned domestic violence in every way possible," and, "The president takes all of these accusations very seriously. He believes in due process. Above anything else, he supports the victims of any type of violence and certainly would condemn any violence against anyone."

Sanders' statements built on the president's contentious tweet over the weekend, in which he decried false allegations of abuse and demanded "due process." Critics charged that his comment was "the most obvious demand that survivors, that women, just never speak," and pointed to the more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of "groping, fondling, forcibly kissing, humiliating, and harassing" them.