Ex-President Donald Trump participated in a CNN Republican town hall moderated by Kaitlan Collins at St Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday (Picture: CNN)
Former President Donald Trump again defended his infamous ‘grab ’em by the pussy’ remark, saying that the rich and famous have been able to do so to women ‘for a million years’.
Trump was asked about his comment, which made headlines anew during his just-concluded civil rape trial, during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
Moderator and CNN This Morning anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Trump if he stood by his 2005 remark, which he defended in an October video deposition shown in the rape trial last week.
‘I said if you’re famous, rich or whatever, I said, but I said if you’re a star… women let you. I didn’t say you grab… Now they said will you take it back?’ said Trump from St Anselm College in Manchester.
Former President Donald Trump attacked rape accuser E Jean Carroll, who was awarded about $5million by a jury (Picture: CNN)
‘For a million years, this is the way it’s been.
‘I want to be honest, I can take it back if you want to, and I’m saying if you’re famous, if you’re a star. I’m not saying myself. People who are rich. They tend to do well in a lot of different ways.’
Trump said he wouldn’t take his comment back ‘because it’s been true approximately a million years’.
‘I don’t want to lie,’ he said.
Former President Donald Trump defended his ‘grab ’em by the pussy’ comment again (Picture: CNN)
Trump in the town hall that took place a day after a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming columnist E Jean Carroll.
Collins asked Trump what he would say to voters who say the verdict disqualifies him from being president.
‘Well there aren’t too many of them because my poll numbers just out – they went up,’ Trump said.
Trump again denied knowing Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
‘This woman, I don’t know her. I never met her. I have no idea who she is, and I swear on my children which I never do,’ said Trump.
Trump went on to mock Carroll, who was awarded about $5million by jurors. He called her a ‘whack job’ and accused her of making up a story about ‘playing hanky panky’ in a fitting room. Trump also criticized Carroll’s husband and pet.
‘I had a picture taken years ago with her and her husband, nice guy John Johnson. He was a newscaster, very nice. She called him an ape, happens to be African-American. Called him an ape,’ Trump said.
‘The judge wouldn’t allow us to put that in. Her dog or her cat was named Vagina, the judge wouldn’t allow to put that in.’
Some audience members laughed, demonstrating their unwavering support for the 45th president.
Asked if he thinks the jury’s decision will deter women from voting for him in the 2024 election, Trump said, ‘No, I don’t think so’.
The town hall, which included numerous questions from audience members, ran about 75 minutes.
As the town hall ended, Trump said ‘I love you’ to the New Hampshire crowd and stayed on stage after Collins left.
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Ex-President Donald Trump defended his ‘grab ’em by the p****’ comment yet again in a CNN town hall.