Flashback Friday: Donald Trump Brags About Sexually Assaulting Women in Newly Leaked Audio

Photo by Chip Somodevilla

Former porn actor and reality television personality Donald Trump once bragged about coming on to and sexually assaulting women, insisting his star power enabled him to "do anything," including "[grabbing] them by the pussy."

The Washington Post on Friday published a recording of the Republican presidential nominee from a hot microphone during a 2005 conversation with Access Hollywood's Billy Bush while en route to the Days of Our Lives set for Trump to tape a cameo on the soap opera.

In the audio, newlywed Trump—whose third and current wife Melania would have been pregnant with his youngest son Barron—discussed aggressive attempts to seduce a married woman. “I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it ... I did try and fuck her. She was married ... And I moved on her very heavily," he recalls, adding: “I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there ... Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”

“When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy." - Donald Trump, Republican Presidential Nominee 

Bush and Trump continued engaging in vulgar banter during the clip, with Trump declaring that his despicable behavior is OK because of his fame. “When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything," he says. "Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

Trump, who has had nearly as many wives as he's had campaign managers this year, has spent the past few months trying to somehow pin former president Bill Clinton's affairs to Hillary Clinton, telling the New York Times recently she was "an enabler."

As the Post points out, Trump maintained a very public affair with eventual wife Marla Maples while he was still married to first wife Ivana Trump. 

Following the Washington Post story, Trump has issued a statement claiming this was simply "locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course—not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended." If anyone was offended.

Access Hollywood and NBCUniversal, which produces the show, have subsequently confirmed the woman Trump was crassly referencing in the audio was Nancy O'Dell, current co-host of Entertainment Tonight. 

Update : Just after midnight EST, Donald Trump released a video response calling the leaked tape a "distraction" and then suggesting Bill Clinton is worse than he is, before promising, "I pledge to be a better man tomorrow." See the video below.

Hear the audio below. (Note: It includes language which is truly vulgar and deplorable.)

 

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