Michael Cohen Testifies Melania Trump Suggested Dismissing Access Hollywood Tapes as ‘Locker-Room Talk’
(Credit: Reuters)
Melania Trump allegedly advised dismissing the infamous Access Hollywood tapes as “locker-room talk” before the 2016 election, according to testimony from Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen. Cohen, once Trump’s lawyer and right-hand man, is now the lead witness in the Manhattan criminal trial against Trump concerning hush money and election interference, per The Hill.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide a payment made to Stormy Daniels to suppress her story about an alleged affair with him. The $130,000 payment was made just days before the 2016 election when Trump was under intense scrutiny due to the Access Hollywood tapes and multiple sexual assault allegations.
Cohen testified that Trump wanted to spin the scandal as harmless banter, a strategy supposedly recommended by Melania. Trump reportedly told Cohen, “The spin he wanted putting on it was that this is locker-room talk, something that Melania had recommended, or at least he told me that’s what Melania had thought it was and use that in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign.”
The Access Hollywood tapes were a major scandal during Trump’s first campaign. On October 7, 2016, The Washington Post published a video and article featuring a lewd conversation between Trump and TV host Billy Bush. In the recording, Trump boasted about his behavior toward women, saying, “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. … Grab ’em by the p**sy. You can do anything.”
Following the release of the recording, Trump issued a statement downplaying the conversation as “locker room banter” from years ago and apologized “if anyone was offended,” while also taking a jab at Bill Clinton. Melania Trump supported her husband’s narrative during a CNN interview, suggesting that Billy Bush might have encouraged Trump to say “dirty and bad stuff” and engage in “boy talk.”
She expressed surprise at her husband’s comments, stating she had never heard him speak that way. “I said like I don’t know that person that would talk that way, and that he would say that kind of stuff in private,” Melania said. She attributed the conversation to typical male behavior, explaining that sometimes men talk about women in such a manner to impress each other. She added, “But yes, I was surprised, of course.”
