On October 7, 2016, one month before the United States presidential election that year, The Washington Post published a video and article about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and television host Billy Bush having a lewd conversation about women in September 2005. Trump and Bush were on a bus on their way to film an episode of Access Hollywood, a show owned by NBCUniversal. In the video, Trump described his attempt to seduce a married woman and indicated he might start kissing a woman that he and Bush were about to meet. He added, "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."
News of the recording broke two days before the second 2016 presidential debate between Trump, the Republican nominee, and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The same day, Trump published a statement in which he apologized for the video's content, while adding that Hillary's husband and former president Bill Clinton had "said far worse to me on the golf course". The following day, Trump released an apology video, calling the remarks "locker room banter" and apologized, stating that "I've said and done things I regret". Bush was fired from his position as a host on Today, another show owned by NBCUniversal and aired on the NBC television network.
Statements from Republican officials varied. Some, including Trump's vice-presidential running mate Mike Pence, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, indicated their disapproval of Trump's words but did not renounce their support or call for his resignation from the ticket. Other Republicans, most prominently former presidential nominee John McCain, stated that they would no longer support Trump's presidential campaign, and some called for his withdrawal from the ticket. House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's campaign, although he did not officially retract his endorsement of Trump.
Many commentators and lawyers described Trump's comments as sexual assault. Others argued that the remarks were an assertion that sexual consent is easier to obtain for the famous and wealthy. Several women made allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump.
The release of the tape was regarded as an "October surprise", influencing public opinion in the weeks before the election. According to a 2020 study, it reduced public support for Trump. Despite the controversy, Trump ultimately won the 2016 election.
Trump was shown the tape during an October 2022 deposition for a civil lawsuit brought by author E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her in 1995 or 1996. In response to questions from Carroll's attorney about whether the statements in the tape were true, Trump replied, "historically, that's true with stars" and "if you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately, or fortunately." The tape was used as evidence during the trial. On May 9, 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll and ordered him to pay her $5 million. On July 19, 2023, Judge Kaplan denied Donald Trump's request for a new trial.
Recording
The video was recorded on Friday, September 16, 2005 in the NBC Studios parking lot while Trump was preparing to appear in an episode of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. Access Hollywood, a syndicated entertainment news program owned by NBCUniversal, conducted a behind-the-scenes interview with Trump about the guest appearance in which Trump and Bush arrived in a tour bus for the Access Across America series of segments produced in commemoration of the program's 10th season. It features audio of Trump talking with Billy Bush, then co-anchor of Access Hollywood, on a bus embellished with the show's name. Trump and Bush were wearing microphones, which recorded their casual conversation. Trump was later described as "apparently aware at the time that he was being recorded by a TV program".
According to an Access Hollywood spokesperson, there were seven other people on the bus: a camera crew of two, the bus driver, the show's producer, a production assistant, Trump's security guard, and Trump's public relations representative. Upon arriving at the lot, the camera crew was let off the bus so they could record Trump and Bush disembarking and meeting with Arianne Zucker, who portrayed Nicole Walker on the soap opera and appeared alongside Trump in the episode in which he guest starred.
Contents
In the video, Trump tells Bush about a failed attempt to seduce Nancy O'Dell, who was Bush's co-host at the time (circa 2005) of the recording:
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. 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 took her out 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. She's totally changed her look.
Later, referring to Arianne Zucker (whom they were waiting to meet), Trump says:
I better 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. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.
Publication
According to Access Hollywood, the discovery of the video was prompted by "Mr. Trump's denial of claims contained in an Associated Press story in which 20 former Apprentice employees described Mr. Trump's behavior toward women as lewd and inappropriate." An NBC source said that an Access Hollywood producer remembered the conversation on October 3, 2016, and located it in the show's archives. The celebrity news website TMZ reports a different chronology: when senior executives at NBC learned about the video, they thought it was too early in the presidential campaign season to release it with maximum effect, and (according to TMZ) those executives publicly said they learned of the video long after they actually learned about it.
NBC discussed whether to release the tape and had lawyers review the legality of the publication, as is common among other news media due to the possibility that the involved parties might file a lawsuit if the video was released. By October 4, NBC had drafted a story that it declined to broadcast for another three days. On October 7, at around 11 a.m., an unidentified source gave a copy of the tape to Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold, who contacted NBC for comment, notified the Trump campaign that he had the video, obtained confirmation of its authenticity, and released a story and the tape itself by 4 p.m. Alerted that the Post might release the story immediately, NBC News released its own story "mere minutes" after the Post story was published.
By that evening, the Post's story had become "the most concurrently viewed article in the history of the Post's website" with more than 100,000 people reading it on the afternoon of October 7. The Post's servers went offline for a short period that day due to the surge in web traffic. This story would later be one of the articles for which Fahrenthold received the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.
Reactions
Reaction was swift, with Trump's general election opponent Hillary Clinton among the first political figures to respond to the tape, tweeting shortly after its release, "This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president." Clinton's VP running mate Tim Kaine said of the tape, "It makes me sick to my stomach ... I'm sad to say that I'm not surprised." At the second presidential debate two days later, Clinton said of the tape, "With prior Republican nominees for president, I disagreed with them, politics, policies, principles, but I never questioned their fitness to serve. Donald Trump is different."
In the second episode of season 42 of Saturday Night Live (first aired on October 8), Alec Baldwin parodied the controversy as Trump. Samantha Bee, the host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, reversed the gender roles in the video and issued an "apology" for the parodied video on Twitter. Singer-songwriter Carly Simon donated her 1972 song "You're So Vain" for use in an anti-Trump advertisement – the first time she has ever allowed its use for political purposes – and announced her opposition to Trump in response to the tape.
Touching a person's genitals without consent (also known as groping) is considered sexual assault in most jurisdictions in the United States. Many attorneys and media commentators characterized Trump's statements as describing acts of sexual assault. Lisa Bloom, a sexual harassment expert and civil rights lawyer, stated: "Let's be very clear, he is talking about sexual assault. He is talking about grabbing a woman's genitals without her consent." Trump and some of his supporters claimed that Trump was not saying he had committed a sexual assault or had denied that groping is sexual assault. Journalist Emily Crockett says that this is further evidence of a trend to minimize sexual assaults against women.
John Banzhaf, a George Washington University public interest law professor, stated, "if Trump suddenly and without any warning reached out and grabbed a woman's crotch or breast, it would rather clearly constitute sexual assault", as indicated in Trump's statement "I don't even wait." It has been argued, however, that despite Trump having stated "I don't even wait", his full remarks do imply consent. This is pointed out by Trump's full remarks having included the statement "and when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."
It brought further media comment on Trump's history of criticizing women for their looks, among other remarks criticized as sexist. On October 8, CNN aired segments from multiple interviews Trump gave to The Howard Stern Show prior to his political career in which he made comments similar to those on the Access Hollywood tape. In September 2004, Trump comments on his daughter Ivanka's body and, when asked, tells Stern that it is okay for him to call his daughter "a piece of ass".
Involved parties
Billy Bush
While the controversy focused mainly on Trump, Bush also faced backlash as a result of the tape, mainly due to his statement that Zucker "[is] hot as shit" and his goading her into hugging Trump after they get off the bus. Bush received online criticism and calls for his resignation from The Today Show, where he was an anchor at the time. The Washington Post stated, "Bush's public image was damaged—perhaps beyond repair." There were so many negative comments on Bush's social media accounts following the tape's release that his Twitter account was taken down on the evening of October 7. That evening, Bush issued an apology, saying, "Obviously I'm embarrassed and ashamed. It's no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago—I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I'm very sorry."
The controversy led to speculation that Bush's spot on Today could be in jeopardy, both because of the backlash against him on social media and the possibility that the tape's release could create a toxic work environment between Bush and the show's mostly female production staff. NBC executives confirmed on the evening of October 8 that Bush's job was safe and he would address the controversy on the October 10 episode of Today. Politico noted that the audience of Today is disproportionately female so that a significant ratings drop in the wake of the controversy could still lead to Bush's dismissal. On Monday, October 10, NBC reversed course and announced that Bush would be suspended from Today indefinitely pending further review; as he was an anchor, his suspension was briefly addressed during that day's broadcast. One day later, on October 11, multiple media sources reported that NBC was "negotiating his exit". On October 17, NBC announced that Bush had resigned.
Bush's status as a member of the Bush family (specifically, as the cousin of former president George W. Bush and the nephew of former president George H. W. Bush) was also noted in the wake of the controversy. The Economist noted, "Who would have thought that Mr. Bush, a presenter of NBC's Today news show, could end up playing a more influential role in this election than his cousin Jeb, whom many Republicans had expected to win it?"
People and entities mentioned by Trump
Nancy O'Dell, the married woman of whom Trump spoke, said:
Politics aside, I'm saddened that these comments still exist in our society at all. When I heard the comments yesterday, it was disappointing to hear such objectification of women. The conversation needs to change because no female, no person, should be the subject of such crass comments, whether or not cameras are rolling. Everyone deserves respect no matter the setting or gender. As a woman who has worked very hard to establish her career, and as a mom, I feel I must speak out with the hope that as a society we will always strive to be better.
In response to having their product referenced by Trump on the tape, Tic Tac issued a statement on Twitter stating, "Tic Tac respects all women. We find the recent statements and behavior completely inappropriate and unacceptable."
Reacting to her unwitting role in this incident, Zucker wrote on TwitLonger, "How we treat one another, whether behind closed doors, locker rooms or face to face, should be done with kindness, dignity and respect."
Melania Trump
The tape had been recorded shortly after Trump's marriage to his third wife, Melania, while she was pregnant with their son Barron. According to Chris Christie, Trump dreaded his next encounter with his wife after the tape leaked. It took him two hours from hearing the tape before he went to see her. The campaign was most concerned about her response, as it more than any other had the potential to derail Trump's candidacy. When they spoke about the tape privately, she reportedly said "now you could lose, you could have blown this for us" and then left the room after hearing her husband's apology.
Melania was frustrated by the pity directed toward her. She wished to make her own response independently from the campaign's planned response. When the campaign's strategy was proposed, she only replied "no". Melania decided to put out her own statement, and Donald only asked to read it before she spoke to the press. Her statement read:
The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.