Giuliani: Just Because Trump Bragged About Sexual Assault Doesn’t Mean He Committed It

Top Surrogate Suggests GOP Nominee Was Exaggerating When He Said, ‘Grab Them By The P—y’

Donald Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani acknowledged on Sunday that the GOP presidential nominee was bragging about sexual assault in a 2005 video unearthed by The Washington Post on Friday. 

“Grab them by the p—y,” Trump said in the video, referencing how he approaches women he finds attractive. “You can do anything. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Guiliani said it’s possible Trump was exaggerating and didn’t actually commit sexual assault.  

“The problem isn’t just the words,” host George Stephanopoulos told Giuliani. “As both Sen. McCain and Vice President Biden pointed out, what Trump is describing in that tape is sexual assault.” 

“That’s what he’s talking about,” Giuliani admitted. “Whether it happened or not, I don’t know, and how much exaggeration was involved in that, I don’t know. I do know there’s tendency on the part of some men at different times to exaggerate things like this.”

In the wake of Friday’s scandal, Giuliani appeared on Sunday talk shows in place of Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, who canceled due to what he called “a scheduling issue.” 

On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Giuliani claimed that Trump was “shocked” when he heard his own comments about women from 11 years ago. 

“I’m not going to say that he didn’t remember them, but they probably weren’t at the top of his mind,” Giuliani said. “And when he was confronted with it, he was pretty darn shocked that he had said such terrible things and he feels terrible about it.” 

On CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper hammered Giuliani for trying to defend Trump’s remarks.

“First of all, I don’t know that he did it to anyone. This is talk, and gosh almighty, he who hasn’t sinned, throw the first stone here,” Giuliani said. 

“I have never said that; I have never done that,” Tapper responded. “I am happy to throw a stone. I have been in locker rooms. I have been a member of a fraternity. I have never heard any man, ever, brag about being able to maul women because they get away with it — never.”

“We’ve taken it to an extra degree of what he said,” Giuliani said. “But the fact is that men at times talk like that. Not all men, but men do. He was wrong for doing it. I am not justifying it. I believe it’s wrong. I know he believes it’s wrong. I believe this is not the man we’re talking about today.”