‘Grab them by the p***y’: Leaked audio of Trump causes GOP backlash

Courting rituals change over time, but it was probably never OK to do what Donald Trump told Billy Bush he did to woo an unnamed woman. In 2005, Trump was chatting with the TV anchor without knowing a live mic recorded some graphic comments he made.

UPDATE: Trump says ‘he never was perfect’ after backlash over groping & married sex comments (VIDEO)

2005 was a big year for the Donald, it seems. Not only did he marry Melania, but he also appeared on both the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives as well as entertainment news show Access Hollywood. But Trump may be regretting the latter, as he was caught talking on a hot mic with host Billy Bush.

“I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it,” Trump is heard saying on a recording obtained by the Washington Post and released Friday. While he had recently married Melania at the time of the recording, it is never specified when the events he described took place or the identity of the woman he is referring to.

“I did try and f*** her. She was married,” he continues. “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.’”

Unfortunately for Trump, it seemed that furniture shopping wasn’t enough for the married woman to have sex with him.

“I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” he said, adding, “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”

Bush also engaged in this discussion. As the Access Hollywood bus pulls up, the men seem to acknowledge actress Arianne Zucker waiting for them.

“Your girl’s hot as s***, in the purple,” Bush says. “Woah!”

Trump replies in kind, “Woah!”

“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says. “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.”

It gets worse.

“And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything,” Trump says.
“Whatever you want,” chimes another voice that the Post identifies as NBC’s current Today show host, Bush, who deleted his Twitter account on Friday.

“Grab them by the p***y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”

It is important to note that regardless of star power or social standing, one should not grab another person by their genitals without consent.

A statement from the Trump campaign called the conversation “locker room banter” and “a private conversation that took place many years ago.”

Trump redirected scorn back towards the Clintons, saying “Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close.”

“I apologize if anyone was offended,” he concluded.

While Trump may write off his comments as “boys will be boys,” other Republicans have responded by distancing themselves from him. As a result of the audio recording, Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan has disinvited Trump from a Wisconsin event. It was meant to be the first joint campaign event, but now Ryan will handle it solo.

“I am sickened by what I heard today,” Ryan wrote in a statement. “Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. “

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus released a short statement Friday evening, saying, “No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever.”

This is not the first time Trump has been accused of sexist behavior this month. On October 3, multiple contestants and crew from the Apprentice told the Associated Press that his treatment of women on the show was questionable.

Contestant Poppy Carlig recounted Trump asking her to twirl for him, but believed it to be “playful banter,” adding, “He said I reminded him of his daughter and I thought that was really touching because I know how much he values his family."

It is a rare occurrence for Trump to offer apologies. This week, Trump was asked about a full-page ad he took out in multiple newspapers calling for the death penalty to be reinstated in New York State in relation to the Central Park Five.

The Central Park Five were five minority teenagers in New York City who ranged in ages from 14 to 16 years old who were falsely convicted of a brutal rape in 1989. DNA evidence has since exonerated the men who spent between six and 13 years of their life in prison after the actual rapist confessed.

When questioned by CNN’s Miguel Marquez on whether he recalled calling for their execution, Trump doubled down, saying, "They admitted they were guilty," despite the fact that none of the five teens admitted to raping the woman and the confessions they made were believed to have been coerced out of the teenagers.

"The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same."

No DNA evidence was found that connected any of the boys to the crime, but semen collected from the victim did match Matias Reyes, the man who confessed in 2002.

Since news of the comments spread, more Republicans have distanced themselves from him. Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz officially retracted his endorsement of Trump during a live segment on Fox News, and Utah Governor Gary Herbert announced he would not vote for Trump.

Colorado Representative Mike Coffman called for Trump to step aside and “give the Republicans a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton.”