Moishe Mana, the billionaire art collector and storage mogul who founded the Mana Contemporary art centers in New Jersey and Miami, is offering to cover the legal costs of women who claim to have been sexually harassed by Donald Trump, should the presidential candidate sue them for their allegations.
Mana told the Daily News that he was prepared to shell out “whatever money necessary” in defense of nearly 20 women and girls who now claim Trump behaved inappropriately, from walking in on naked beauty pageant contestants to forcibly kissing and touching them without their consent. A 2005 hot-mic video was uncovered last month in which Trump bragged in graphic terms about grabbing women.
In a campaign speech, CNN reported, Trump called the accusations a “total fabrication,” promising that “all of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
Collector Moishe Mana. Photo: NICHOLAS ROBERTS/AFP/Getty Images.
“I intend to fight it and do whatever it takes to protect the girls, and even seek damages from the guy,” Mana fired back. “We’re going to hire lawyers to defend the whole case should he try to attack them… It cannot be that one guy can bully the entire country and do whatever and say whatever and we are subject to his rhetoric.”
It’s perhaps an unsurprising promise, as Mana has been quite outspoken in the lead-up to this week’s election. When Republican candidate Donald Trump broke with long-standing tradition by refusing to release his tax returns, Mana offered to donate $2 million to charity if the nominee changed his mind. Mana then held an art auction to raise money for Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton.
A passerby takes a picture of a statue depicting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the nude on August 18, 2016 in San Francisco. Photo Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
The entrepreneur also reveled in unflattering guerrilla statues of a naked Trump. After the artworks were erected in five cities across the country over the summer by street art collective Indecline, Mana commissioned the artist, haunted house sculptor Ginger, to make two more copies. He then put the grotesque works on display in prominent locations overlooking New York’s Holland Tunnel and in front of a billboard in Wynwood Art District in Miami.
“I can’t believe one guy can talk the way he talks about women and immigrants,” Mana added. “This rhetoric should not be allowed. Protecting these women and these girls is part of a bigger fight.”