A month before the 2016 presidential election, the Washington Post published a previously unaired hot mic video of Trump and TV host Billy Bush on their way to film an episode of Access Hollywood in 2005. In it, Trump said he had grabbed women "by the pussy," and kissed them against their will.
In a video posted to his Twitter account, Trump apologized for the comments, saying: "I've never said I'm a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more-than-a-decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize."
However, in the second presidential debate that followed days later he denied ever sexually assaulting women, dismissing the comments as "locker room talk".
Furthermore, according to a New York Times report from November 2017, Trump had suggested to a senator earlier in the year that the tape was "not authentic," and also later repeated that same claim to an adviser.