“Access Hollywood” hosts are incredulous that President Donald Trump reportedly raised questions recently about the authenticity of his videotaped boast about grabbing women’s genitals.
“Let us make this perfectly clear. The tape is very real,” host Natalie Morales said alongside Kit Hoover on “Access Hollywood” Monday. “Remember his excuse at the time was ‘locker-room talk.’ He said every one of those words.”
Trump, during the 2016 presidential campaign, owned up to his bragging, but dismissed it as mere “locker room banter.” His comments were captured on tape as he talked in 2005 with “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush. “When you’re a star ... you can do anything ... grab them by the pussy,” Trump said.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Trump has begun telling people that the tape isn’t authentic. “He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently,” The Times reported.
Trump referred on the tape to soap opera actress Arianne Zucker, and said he wanted to “use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
Zucker, who greeted Trump seconds after the infamous interview for a tour of the “Days of Our Lives” set, said she’s stunned that Trump now denies what he said.
“How do you apologize for something and then renege on it?” she asked Anderson Cooper Monday on CNN.
“Let’s take responsibility for ourselves and our actions,” Zucker added. “People appreciate ... honesty. I really would hope that someone in such a high position could teach us a few things, which would be respect, honor, trust.”
She added: “It’s upsetting. You really want to see a person in a positive position helping others being respectful and honest people.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared to confirm that the “Access Hollywood” tape was authentically Trump and that the president knew that. She said Monday that Trump “already addressed this,” apparently referring to his comments during the campaign, and “made his position clear at that time.”