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Lisa Bloom’s infusion of ‘dark money’ into world of sexual assault is a tragedy

by Monica Crowley, opinion contributor - 12/18/17 12:57 PM ET

As the current cultural moment evolves, there seems to be a disturbing merging of two defining aspects of leftist hypocrisy: liberals’ “championing of women” and their complaints about the influence of “dark” and “dirty” money in politics. Unsurprisingly, it took liberal “feminist” lawyer Lisa Bloom to embody those hypocritical strains in one shot.

Self-proclaimed “champions of women” are having a bad year. In this extraordinarily important time in which women have become empowered to share their horrifying experiences, many powerful liberals — who have made “women’s issues” central to their public agendas — are biting the dust.

Bill Clinton’s reputation is in tatters as many of his fellow Democrats now admit that he likely did engage in acts of sexual misconduct. His wife, so-called “feminist icon” Hillary Clinton, led the efforts to smear and discredit those same women, making her the worst kind of accomplice.

{mosads}Harvey Weinstein, one of the most prolific fundraisers for the Clintons and countless leftist candidates and causes, insisted that he was a fighter for women even as he was carted away to “sex rehab” and criminal investigations were launched into multiple allegations of rape.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.), self-styled women’s rights leaders, were forced to resign over serious allegations of sexual misconduct.

The list goes on. And now it includes Lisa Bloom.

The daughter of high-profile women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, Bloom fashioned herself as the next generation’s pitbull defender of women, their rights, integrity and ability to function in the workplace and society at large without having to face sexual violence or harassment.

Now, however, it appears that the woman who benefited most from Bloom’s advocacy … is Bloom.

The Hill’s John Solomon reported that she sought to arrange significant paydays for women who wanted to accuse then-presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual misconduct. They amounted to proposed monetary rewards to women who would further Bloom’s anti-Trump, pro-Hillary agenda. (Given that political bias, it appears she would have been right at home in the top hierarchy of the Department of Justice and FBI.)

The indecent proposals would have also lined Bloom’s pockets, because — like most leftist hypocrites — she believes in capitalism when it serves her interests.

Among the critical revelations in Solomon’s reporting, Bloom represented four women who had been considering making allegations against Trump during the late stages of the 2016 campaign. Operating more as public relations and financial ringleader than legal defender, Bloom arranged for a donor to pay off one accuser’s mortgage and secured $750,000 for another accuser, who ultimately did not come forward. She also approached Clinton super PACs for money but they blew her off, so she found other sources of financing these payments.

Bloom made sure she got a cut of the action, signing contracts that guaranteed her a 33 percent commission if the accusers’ stories were sold to the news media. When she discovered that one of the women had been chatting on her own with CBS News about a potential interview, she snapped, “CBS does not pay for stories.”

Bloom claims that she was merely looking after the interests of her clients, potential whistleblowers. But the report comes on the heels of the revelation that Bloom began working for Weinstein in 2016 to try to halt investigative work conducted by Ronan Farrow and others to publicly discredit Weinstein’s potential accuser — presumably because she was paid handsomely by Weinstein and had her own development deal with his company.

That kind of crass opportunism has long been a hallmark of Bloom’s career. But this latest news makes her the living intersection of liberal hypocrisy on women and dirty money.

More importantly, Bloom’s routine hurts the real victims of bad behavior as their credibility becomes more likely to fall into question — with or without Bloom by their sides. And that is a major tragedy indeed.

Monica Crowley is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, a former opinion editor for The Washington Times, and frequent guest on Fox News. She holds a Ph.D in international relations from Columbia University.