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Donald Trump apologized for his 2005 comments about grabbing “pussy” and kissing women on the mouth, after initially brushing them off as “locker room talk.” Many politicians and headline writers today have echoed that description, or called the tape “lewd” or “vulgar.”
But at least two public accounts exist of Trump doing—not just talking about—precisely what he says he does in the tape. And lawyers say the activity he described amounts to sexual harassment or assault.
Jill Harth, a pageant owner trying to work with Trump in the mid-1990s, filed suit against him in federal court in Manhattan in 1997, describing a “relentless” campaign of sexual harassment and assault including an incident in which he reached under a table, put his hands on her thighs and grabbed her “intimate private parts” during a meeting at a New York restaurant.
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Miss USA pageant contestant Temple Taggart, a former Miss Utah, last May told the New York Times Trump kissed her on the lips without her consent, and that she believed he did the same to other contestants.
Early this morning, the Trump campaign released a 90-second video of Trump personally apologizing for his comments. “I never said I’m a perfect person nor pretended I’m a person I’m not. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it I was wrong, and I apologize.”
He went on to discuss his campaign for president and how “my travels have also changed me.”
Trump did not concede to nor apologize for any actual behavior that he described on the tape. In the 2005 audio clip, Trump told “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush: “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.”
When Bush responded “Whatever you want,” Trump went further: “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Civil rights lawyer and sexual harassment expert Lisa Bloom, who represents Harth, toldNewsweek in a phone interview: “Let’s be very clear, he is talking about sexual assault. He is talking about grabbing a woman’s genitals without her consent. Some of the media has described it as locker room talk. It’s way beyond that.” She also said that the tape itself, in which Trump talks about a woman they are about to meet—among others —is evidence of workplace sexual harassment. “This is a workplace. It was harassment. They’re talking about a woman, and they come out of a bus, and they interact with her.”
In 1992, Harth and her then-boyfriend George Houraney were negotiating to get Trump involved in their beauty pageant, The American Dream competition. Harth maintains Trump aggressively came onto her at their first meeting. In her lawsuit—and in an interview with Newsweek Friday night—she described physical interactions that almost exactly echo Trump’s comments to Billy Bush.
Regarding “grabbing pussy,” Harth recalled that she was at a restaurant with Trump in December 1992, at a table with him and several other women. “I had a dress on, and I constantly had to lean to the left, into the other women, to get away from him. He had his hands right there.” In her lawsuit she described him touching “my intimate private parts.”Comment -
Fat boy is done.Comment -
non story. He said something crude like millions of men have. He apologized for it. Oh wait, he's a republican so there can never be enough to satisfy liberals. If he was a democrat, she could have been caught of video smoking crack or sticking cigars inside interns and all is forgiven. Trump said mean things Hillary gets people killed and purposely deleted 33,000 emails.
CNN and sbr liberals have no credibility.Comment -
Not that I want Trump to be Pres he deserves what he gets, I don't want Clinton either.
Something to be mindful of here. The Clinton's & the Media have manipulated the shit out of this election from the start of the primaries. In some ways she is more dangerous than Trump.Comment -
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just spoke w/ TRUMP by phone... “I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life,” he told <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost">@washingtonpost</a>.</p>— Robert Costa (@costareports) <a href="https://twitter.com/costareports/status/784777995609333760">October 8, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Am I the only one who thinks Trump is the next Bill Cosby? 70's is the new 20's for famous people being charged with sexual assault.Comment -
Why do facts only matter when they apply to the clintons? There are people here that have sisters,mothers and daughters but it doesn't matter what this P.O.S KNOWN AS TRUMP has doneComment -
Pence got kicked out of the wisconsin picnic also. guess he laid down with a muttComment -
What if Pence withdrew?
I bet Trump would try to make Ivanka the VP nominee.Comment -
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He is 1000% in
Announced today
I love this guyComment -
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LOL @ the guys clinging to him in here. #ridethatsinkingship
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Does it matter though Greaser,if your going to worry about this sort of stuff,none of these clowns are any different.Comment -
Jeez this still going....were the laughing stock of the world...a grouper and a criminal lying career politician who wants open borders and complete free trade....and holds private speeches to the rich in Wall Street speaking on how the public views certain things and how they need to be careful with how they do certain things.... she's already lied to us. He's speaking out his ass...it sounds good but if elected good luck doing the things he wants to do.....I guarantee past presidents have done far worse......HOW CAN YOU BE SO DUMB TO NOT SEE THEY ARE ALL FUKED AND IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE
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