Humans jump through hoops to try and rationalize the bad acts of the people they like. Oftentimes that's what it takes for them to finely admit it to themselves. What's maybe even more important is what you do next. She has the resources to stand up with the victims, but she chose to remain silent.
The worst part is, he can't even stand up for his own position. Trying to pay both sides makes nobody happy. A leader would know that and know when to take a controversial stance.
I didn't want to pay for cable TV. I started with torrents. Then I found utorrent could automate via rss and search terms, then sickbeard could automate it even further, usenet made it safer, etc... And that's also how I ended up with a career in IT.
It's too bad he doesn't have a long history of dealings that could be referenced.