Donald Trump worried after the vulgar Access Hollywood tape emerged during his 2016 campaign that he could potentially lose his highly religious and conservative running mate – especially due to the high regard he held of his wife.
After a phone conversation with now-Vice President Mike Pence in October 2016, Trump said ‘mother’ would not approve of the tape, according to Politico.
Pence has, at times, referred to his wife, Karen, as ‘Mother.’
‘Oh boy,’ then-candidate Trump said after hanging up Pence. ‘Mother is not going to like this.’
During the call, Pence urged Trump to offer a sincere apology for his comments.
The Indiana governor returned home when the tape went public and cut himself off from the political world for a while – he prayed with his wife over what to do and told advisers he wasn’t sure if he would continue on as Trump’s No. 2.
A new report reveals that Donald Trump was worried about the fallout from Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, after the Access Hollywood tape was published during the 2016 campaign
After a phone call with Pence following the release of the audio, Trump said, ‘Oh boy. Mother is not going to like this,’ in reference to the now-second lady
At the time, Pence took a break from the campaign trail to pray with his wife over whether he should continue on as Trump’s running mate. Pence came under scrutiny for sometimes referring to Karen as ‘Mother’
Trump was only concerned about the backlash and fallout he would receive from his running partner after the audio recording of him making lewd comments and bragging about being able to get away with sexual assault was published in the Washington Post.
The tape dropped in a month before the presidential elections and just two days before the second presidential debate where he would go head-to-head with Hillary Clinton for the second time.
Although Trump found Pence’s religion and politics to be a bit alien, including the frequent prayer and how he always held hands with Karen, Trump appreciated that Pence seeed to genuinely believe he was a decent person.
‘Look at them!’ Trump would tease Pence and his wife. ‘They’re so in love!’
While practicing for the debates, Trump and his team became aware that Post reporter David Fahrenthold was in possession of the tape, which came to be known colloquially as the Access Hollywood tape.
This was the tape where he infamously said he could ‘Grab them by the p***y,’ in reference to interacting with women as a famous person.
In October 2016, the Washington Post published an audio tape of Trump bragging with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush (right) about how he could get away with sexual assault as a famous person
A reluctant Trump issued an apology on-camera for the comments, which included him saying he grabbed women by the ‘p***y’
Then RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and other members of the GOP floated removing Trump from the ticket and replacing him with Pence. They even considered a few Republicans that would run as Pence’s No. 2
However, the candidate apparently completely forgot about eh interaction, which happened 11 years prior to its reprieval.
Fahrenthold sent over the quotes he said he had on tape to Trump’s campaign team, which he was seeking comment from, while they were practicing for the second presidential debate.
‘This doesn’t sound like me,’ Trump told the room of aides, which included Chris Christie, Reince Preibus, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne Conway, Steven Bannon, and Jared Kushner, among others.
The journalist then sent over the audio recording, which the team listened to.
‘Well,’ the nominee said, ‘that’s me.’
Conway, counselor to Trump, said it was a ‘moment of humility and vulnerability.’
‘He legitimately did not remember saying that,’ she noted.
In the recording Trump detailed to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about a time he tried to sleep with his co-host Nancy O’Dell.
‘I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f**k her. She was married. And I moved on her very heavily,’ Trump told Bush in the over-10-year-old tape.
Pence sent a letter to Trump that detailed what he and his wife felt after hearing the tape
Pence ended up returning to the campaign trail after the fallout blew over – just 48 hours after the tape was released – and stood by Trump like nothing had happened
‘I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,’ Trump’s distinctive voice continued.
‘And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything,’ he said.
Trump received fall out from a lot of politicians, including then-House Speaker Paul Ryan who was supposed to make his first joint appearance with Trump the morning after the tape was released.
The Republican National Committee even began discussing the option of making Pence the candidate and began floating ideas of who would be his running mate after receiving indications from his aides the Indiana governor would be willing to take over the Republican ticket.
Pence ended up writing Trump a letter detailing what hearing the tape had done to him and his wife – which led to concerns that Pence was ready to drop out as Trump’s running mate.
Trump confirmed to Politico he had received a letter from Pence regarding the audio.
With Trump fighting against the attacks and refusing to step down, within 48 hours of the tape’s release, Republicans stopped their calls for his withdrawal and Pence returned to the campaign as though it never happened.