President Trump reportedly told a senator and an adviser that the “Access Hollywood” video in which he boasts about grabbing women by their genitalia without their consent may not be authentic, according to a report.
The account of Trump’s comments, published Saturday in the New York Times, does not name any of the sources who say Trump has made that claim.
When the tape was made public by the Washington Post in October 2016, Trump acknowledged he was speaking in the video and apologized for his comments, in which he said: “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. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. … Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
At the beginning of the “Access Hollywood” video, Trump can be heard via a hot mic in a van. He later emerges from the van as the audio continues.
Trump has denied other allegations that surfaced following the release of the tape, when 13 different women came forward publicly to accuse him of unwanted sexual advances.
According to the New York Times, Trump sees some parallels between the allegations against him last years and accusations faced by Republican Roy Moore, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.
Moore has been accused by nine different women of unwanted sexual advances when they were in their teens and he was in his 30s. One woman said that he made her touch him inappropriately when she was 14. Trump suggested this week that the women who have accused Moore of unwanted sexual advances may not be telling the truth. Though the official White House statement is that Moore should step down if the allegations are true, the president’s position is also that Alabamians should decide who their senator will be.
Trump has noted that Moore denies the allegations, though Moore has admitted that he dated women who were younger than he was when he was in his 30s, and said that he often asked their mothers for permission.
Republican and Democratic senators have called for Moore to drop out of the race, but Moore has refused.
Trump had endorsed Sen. Luther Strange during the primary contest but he said has said that he does not want to see the seat filled by a liberal Democrat, naming Moore’s opponent Doug Jones and whose record on issues like crime, immigration and the military he called “terrible.”
