Donald Trump considered dropping out of the 2016 presidential race amid the aftermath of the infamous Access Hollywood tape on which he boasted about “grabbing.” [women] by the p***y,” a new book excerpt by Kellyanne Conway revealed Sunday.
Then-candidate Trump was apparently concerned that the Republican Party could “force him off the ticket or hold a vote to expel him” over the embarrassing tape, which was leaked about a month before Election Day.
Conway, a former senior White House adviser and Trump campaign manager, recounted a crisis meeting with her then-boss over tone in her memoir, Here’s the Deal. A copy was obtained from the Daily Beast.
“Shall I go out? [of the race]?’ Conway recalled that Trump asked her on October 8, 2016, a day after the ten-year-old tome was published.
The ex-counselor told him that he “actually can’t” get out “unless you want to give up and throw the whole damn thing at Hillary”.
Trump eventually lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton but won the race with an electoral college victory.
“What do you mean I can’t?” Trump is described as “firing back” at Conway.
She reportedly argued that it was too late to stop because early voting had already started.
“I know you don’t like to lose … but I also know you don’t like to quit,” Conway recalled telling Trump in Sunday’s excerpt.
She said he asked, “Am I going to lose? will we lose Can we still win?’
Kellyanne Conway is releasing a new memoir about her time as Donald Trump’s campaign manager and later White House adviser, titled Here’s The Deal.
Conway’s report claimed she attacked Trump herself via the October 2016 Access Hollywood tape, calling his comments “disgusting” and “reprehensible,” despite defending them on TV at the time.
The meeting reportedly took place in Trump Tower — not in the former real estate manager’s office, but “around the corner from the elevator landing on the 24th floor,” according to the Beast.
And Trump’s reported uncertainty about his ultimately successful presidential bid stands in stark contrast to his public statements on the same day.
The Republican told The Wall Street Journal on Oct. 8 that there’s “no way I’m going to stop” and “will never, ever give up,” though he privately asked Conway if he should.
He also wrote on his now-suspended Twitter account at the time: “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly – I will never get out of the race, will never let my supporters down!”
On October 7, 2016, in a conversation with host Billy Bush, Trump shows a hot mic as he boasts, “You know, I’m automatically attracted to beauty — I just start kissing her. It’s like a magnet. just kiss I don’t even wait. And if you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do everything. Grab her by the pussy. You can do everything.’
The Washington Post first reported.
The Washington Post leaked audio in October 2016 recorded between Trump and Billy Bush on a hot mic while waiting for actress Ariana Zucker (pictured with Trump in 2005). Trump had said of sugar, “I better use some tic tacs just in case I start kissing her.” You know, I’m automatically attracted to beauty – I just start kissing her. It’s like a magnet. just kiss I don’t even wait. And if you’re a star, they let you do it.
The then-candidate suffered backlash from all sides, including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who withdrew his endorsement, and even his running mate Mike Pence, who publicly denounced the comments.
Then-Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who later became Trump’s White House chief of staff, later revealed that he had privately asked Trump to drop out of the race after those comments.
And it spurred other prosecutors to bring their own sexual assault accounts against Trump — though all the fallout ultimately didn’t derail his campaign.
However, Bush eventually resigned from his previous job as a co-host on NBC’s Today Show.
Another recent excerpt from Conway’s book, which goes on sale Tuesday, looks at the impact of the bombastic Trump presidency on her marriage to husband George Conway.
Both are GOP public agents, but the attorney formerly best known for representing Paula Jones against Bill Clinton has made a name for himself online as one of Trump’s top Republican critics.
Conway’s memoir accused her husband of “cheating by tweeting,” according to an excerpt from People.
“I had a hard time competing with his new fling,” she wrote.
She also recalled telling him, “You shouldn’t criticize me publicly. And when did you get so mean? So that’s not you.’
Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, reportedly suggested Conway sign up for couples therapy.