Donald Trump defied political gravity when he was elected president in 2016, only after surviving the disclosure of the hacked “Access Hollywood” tape.
Voters nevertheless elected a politician to the highest office despite audio of him talking incredibly degrading things about women. Trump’s resilience in the face of that humiliating incident is mirrored in his rise to the Republican nomination for president a third time, even though he lost the 2020 election and attempted to reverse the results.
It’s easy to lose sight of how shocking it was to first hear Trump’s voice on that audio, especially considering how many Republicans who urged him to withdraw from the presidential race at the time are now saying they support him.
On Friday, Trump’s hush money criminal trial in New York centered on the humiliating footage, which, if it represents anything, continues to plague him.
Hope Hicks’s testimony, which she gave while working for Trump, is discussed more below.
Reevaluating the ‘Access Hollywood’ recording
The recounting makes Trump’s 2016 Electoral College triumph seem even less credible. He boasts about being able to grope women on the “Access Hollywood” tape, which his former close associate Hicks shared with the jury, describing the incredibly uncomfortable moment when she read the transcript to her employer.
The impact of its release on the campaign was described by her as a “crisis,” she added. The details were available to the public prior to Hicks’ statement on Friday, but the content is repugnant. Although it has been described, the judge who presided over the case initially decided that the tape itself could not be played in court.
The seismic shift that the 2016 campaign’s “Access Hollywood” footage triggered warrants further examination. Many were rendered stunned upon seeing the video’s release.
The video was revealed on October 7, 2016, slightly over one month before Election Day. It was recorded in 2005 and was leaked to The Washington Post. Trump reveals his inability to “move on” from a married woman who remains nameless. He then gets naughty, discussing his insatiable desire to kiss an actress just before his meeting with Billy Bush, the host of “Access Hollywood” at the time.
“They let you do it when you’re a star,” he said Bush. Nothing is out of your reach. Take control of them.
Immediate consequences ensued.
Even though they are now fully behind Trump, other Republicans, including Utah Senator Mike Lee, demanded his resignation in 2016. According to a memoir written by former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, there was a belief among Trump’s inner circle that the majority of Republican politicians wanted him removed from the ticket.
Paul Ryan expressed his sorrow, the former speaker of the house. According to Christie and then-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus believed that Trump should step down or would suffer a crushing defeat.
Melania Trump, who is not one to make public remarks, voiced her disapproval of the tape’s content and later dismissed it as “boy talk.”
In fact, Trump issued an apology.
A straight-to-camera video uploaded on Twitter (now X) in which Trump acknowledges the tape’s authenticity and accepts responsibility was likely the sole apology of Trump’s political career during that period.
I confessed. Yes, I was incorrect. Despite his repeated assurances that he would not withdraw from the campaign, Trump nonetheless issued an apology. Trump attempted to make a connection between his statements and accusations against former president Bill Clinton, before saying that being exposed to individuals on the campaign path had changed him.
I’ve mentioned this previously, but hearing Trump say anything like this is quite unusual.
In 2016, there were other surprises as well.
Among Trump’s unwelcome surprises, former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s admission in July that she was “careless” with confidential email data was the most consequential. Comey had previously served as director of the FBI.
To make matters worse for Clinton, on October 28, just over a week before the election, Comey informed Congress that the FBI was investigating emails connected to Clinton’s private server that had been discovered on the computer of Anthony Weiner, a tarnished ex-con who was married to her senior adviser.
Even while Clinton would end up with more votes overall, Trump would surprise everyone by becoming president.
Refund for the cassette
The “Access Hollywood” video is now available again. Prosecutors have said that Trump and his ex-fixer Michael Cohen conspired to bribe adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to sway the 2016 presidential election. This accusation is central to their case.
Accusations of Trump’s impropriety, such as an affair with a porn star when his wife was pregnant, forced him to tone things down. As a result, Cohen had to pay Daniels hush money.
Because of the payments’ violation of campaign finance laws, Cohen spent time in federal jail. Trump is facing charges of manipulating financial documents pertaining to his payment of Cohen following the election.
Considering the tape’s age
In 2017, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin claimed that Trump had questioned the authenticity of the recording. More recently, Trump was asked in May 2023 about the tape by AWN’s Kaitlan Collins. He made an effort to decipher the tape’s words.
Reminding Collins, “I said, ‘women let you,'” he repeated. “I didn’t say ‘grab,'” he said, paraphrasing the transcript incorrectly.
An experience that challenged commitment
Bannon would subsequently explain to Charlie Rose, a former CBS journalist, that the “Access Hollywood” incident was pivotal because it divided Republicans along Trump loyalist and mainstream lines. According to what Bannon told Rose, Christie’s disgust with the footage cost him a Cabinet seat in Trump’s administration.
In the years since, loyalty to Trump has become an increasingly important marker among Republicans as Trump beat back a deep field of presidential primary challengers.
Perceived loyalty to Trump could become a de facto requirement for many federal workers if he wins in 2024 and carries through with a plan to reclassify a large portion of the federal bureaucracy as political appointees, according a recent report by AWN’s investigative team.
Donald Trump’s legacy
Even if the recording shows that Trump may ignore political norms, it has brought him shame in other ways as well.
A deposition in which he was asked about the tape was played for jurors who later found him liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine columnist, in a New York department store in the 1990s. Juries ordered Trump to pay more than $80 million for defaming her, although he has appealed those decisions.