section_path: Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign/Access Hollywood tape
section_name: Access Hollywood tape
paragraph_text: Access Hollywood tape
  
  On October 7, a month before the election, the Access Hollywood tape was leaked. The tape had been recorded in 2005, shortly after their marriage, and it featured audio of Donald making lewd remarks about his treatment of women. Immediately after its release, the campaign's primary concern was Melania's reaction. It took Donald two hours before he went to see Melania. Upon their meeting, Melania reportedly told him "Now you could lose, you could have blown this for us", and then left the room after he apologized. In 2024, her husband's former personal counsel Michael Cohen testified during The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump trial that Donald had privately credited her as having suggested that the campaign's response strategy should best characterize the conversation on the tape as "locker room talk".
  
  Melania kept her distance from him, angry that he may have ended his candidacy with his comments, and she waited a day before making a comment. When asked by the campaign to make a scripted appearance alongside Donald as damage control, she refused, deciding that she was going to respond her own way. She also refused to sit beside him during his recorded apology as politicians' spouses often did in these situations. Melania released a statement saying that the tape did not show "the man I know" and said those who accused him of sexual misconduct are liars. Melania received significantly more attention from the press following the incident, and she was frustrated by the pity she received. A few days later, she attended a presidential debate wearing a pussy bow, causing widespread speculation about her intention (as her husband's comments on the Access Hollywood tape had included, "grab them by the pussy "–with pussy being slang for vagina). After she voted, Melania spent most of Election Day with her parents in Trump Tower while the rest of the family did last-minute campaigning.
  
  On October 7, a month before the election, the Access Hollywood tape was leaked. The tape had been recorded in 2005, shortly after their marriage, and it featured audio of Donald making lewd remarks about his treatment of women. Immediately after its release, the campaign's primary concern was Melania's reaction. It took Donald two hours before he went to see Melania. Upon their meeting, Melania reportedly told him "Now you could lose, you could have blown this for us", and then left the room after he apologized. In 2024, her husband's former personal counsel Michael Cohen testified during The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump trial that Donald had privately credited her as having suggested that the campaign's response strategy should best characterize the conversation on the tape as "locker room talk".
  
  Melania kept her distance from him, angry that he may have ended his candidacy with his comments, and she waited a day before making a comment. When asked by the campaign to make a scripted appearance alongside Donald as damage control, she refused, deciding that she was going to respond her own way. She also refused to sit beside him during his recorded apology as politicians' spouses often did in these situations. Melania released a statement saying that the tape did not show "the man I know" and said those who accused him of sexual misconduct are liars. Melania received significantly more attention from the press following the incident, and she was frustrated by the pity she received. A few days later, she attended a presidential debate wearing a pussy bow, causing widespread speculation about her intention (as her husband's comments on the Access Hollywood tape had included, "grab them by the pussy "–with pussy being slang for vagina). After she voted, Melania spent most of Election Day with her parents in Trump Tower while the rest of the family did last-minute campaigning.