Donald Trump’s primetime appearance in a live CNN town hall today had the former president - and 2024 presidential candidate - doubling down on his explosive comments about grabbing women's genitals made in an Access Hollywood tape which came to light during the 2016 election campaign.
CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins asked Trump about his comments in the infamous video in which he bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without asking permission. The video was played in a recent trial where a jury found Trump sexually abused columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Collins asked him today if he stood by his remarks.
Trump defended his comments, saying that he had said women let him grab their genitals without permission because he was a star.
"I can’t take that back because it happens to be true," Trump said. "For a million years this is the way its been, I want to be honest".
His appearance came a day after a New York jury found him liable for sexually abusing a woman nearly 30 years ago and defaming her when she spoke about it publicly.
Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million USD in damages. The jury rejected her claim of rape and instead found Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual assault. Trump denied it, saying he never encountered Carroll at a 1996 department store and did not know her and has said he plans to appeal the verdict.
Trump skipped attending the trial and did not testify in his own defence during the proceedings, with jurors instead being shown video from a pretrial deposition, making today the first time he’s had to face a public questioning in the case.
When asked by CNN moderator Collins about the verdict, Trump said his poll numbers went up and repeated his statements that he didn’t know Carroll, though at least one photograph has surfaced of them together.
“I don’t know her. I never met her. I had no idea who she is.” He dismissed a question from Collins about whether it would impact his standing with female voters and in response, he launched into a recounting of Carroll’s claims in a mocking voice, drawing laughs and claps from the live audience.
Collins tried to interrupt but Trump continued and called it “a fake story” and referred to Carroll as “a wack job”.
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