Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bragged about attempting to “fuck” married women and kissing women without waiting for their consent, “like a magnet” in a 2005 conversation with a television host caught on a hot microphone.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it,” Trump says in the recording, obtained by the Washington Post. “You can do anything.”
The audio, accompanied by a video, was apparently recorded during an interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush in September 2005, eight months after he married model Melania Knauss. Trump and Bush – a cousin of former Trump rival Jeb Bush and now co-host of the Today show – were on a bus headed to the set of the soap opera Days of Our Lives, on which Trump was set to make a cameo appearance.
The media obtained by the Washington Post includes both audio from inside the bus as well as video shot after the bus arrived on the set.
At the beginning of the audio, Trump relays to Bush a past attempt to seduce a married woman.
“I moved on her and I failed – I’ll admit it,” Trump says.
“I did try and fuck her; she was married,” Trump continues. “And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said: ‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’ I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married.”
“Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything,” Trump continues. “She’s totally changed her look.”
Trump and Bush then apparently see actress Arianne Zucker outside the bus.
“Your girl’s hot as shit, in the purple,” Bush tells Trump.
“Whoa!” Trump responds. “Whoa! I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
“Whatever you want,” Bush replies.
“Grab them by the pussy,” Trump replies. “You can do anything.”
Bush and Trump, after commenting on the legs of a woman walking near the bus, then emerge in view of the Access Hollywood cameras to greet Zucker.
In a statement upon the recording’s release, Trump described the conversation as “locker room banter” and declared that former president Bill Clinton “has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close”.
“I apologize if anyone was offended.”