Casada made the comments regarding state Rep. David Byrd (R-Tenn.) in a video published Tuesday by The Tennessee Holler , a liberal-leaning website. The video shows Democratic former congressional candidate Justin Kanew confronting Casada, who became speaker last month, about his continued support for Byrd despite the allegations against him.

Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada recently came to the defense of a Republican colleague accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls, suggesting that rape victims would move away from their attacker.

TN State Rep. David Byrd admitted on tape to sexual misconduct with female players he coached. His own party asked him to step down. He refused. Speaker @GlenCasada promoted him to chair of an education subcommittee. Recently I confronted him about it. Please WATCH & SHARE. pic.twitter.com/G2NrcrhA5W

Local news outlets reported last year that three women accused Byrd of sexually assaulting them when he was their basketball coach at Wayne County High School in the 1980s. One of the accusers gave WSMV-TV a recording of a phone conversation between her and Byrd last year regarding her alleged assault when she was 15 years old.

“I can promise you one thing ― I am so sorry for that. I’ve lived with that and you don’t know how hard it has been for me,” Byrd says in the recording, adding that he asks for forgiveness for his “sins” when he takes Communion every Sunday. He does not specify what he is apologizing for.

Casada says in the video that he “disagrees” Byrd admits in the recording to molesting the teenagers.

Kanew tells Casada that the women have been scrutinized ever since they came forward with their allegations against Byrd.

“If it’s important, and it is ― it’d be important to me if I was raped, I would move,” Casada says. “And hell would have no fury.”

Kanew responds that Casada cannot possibly say what he would do if he “were raped as a woman in rural Tennessee.”

“Or as a man, I could,” Casada replies.

Casada says he thinks the women believe “something that’s not true.” He previously questioned the women’s credibility, running re-election ads that liken Byrd to President Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and calling Byrd a victim of “fake news.”

Byrd was re-elected in November, and Casada has since appointed Byrd to chair the House’s new education administration committee. Kanew tells Casada in the video that many people are against moving Byrd to a leadership position amid the allegations.

“We’re not asking for a conviction,” says Kanew, who told The Tennessean he has been working with the political action committee Enough Is Enough Tennessee to oust Byrd over the allegations. “You have the authority not to empower men like that and make it OK. Because what happens is the next guy sees that nothing happened, and he’s going to do it.”