Trump Trial: GOP Considered Ousting Trump After ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape, Ex-Assistant Testifies

09/05/2024

Topline

Republican officials considered replacing former President Donald Trump as the party’s 2016 candidate after a leaked tape showed him making derogatory remarks about women to an “Access Hollywood” anchor, Trump’s ex-assistant Madeleine Westerhout testified Thursday, as the tape has become a central part of his New York criminal trial.

trump trial: gop considered ousting trump after ‘access hollywood’ tape, ex-assistant testifies

Former President Donald Trump and attorney Susan Necheles return from a break during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 9 in New York City. Getty Images

Key Facts

Westerhout, who worked at the Republican National Committee during the 2016 election, testified RNC officials discussed how to replace Trump as the party’s candidate “if it came to that,” multiple outlets report.

The tape, which was first reported by The Washington Post in October 2016, shows Trump speaking with former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush, making comments about women and remarking he “grab[bed] them by the pussy.”

The tape and Trump’s comments in it have previously come up at the trial, as witnesses have testified it put pressure on Trump and ex-attorney Michael Cohen to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up her allegations of having an affair with Trump, which they believed would be damaging to Trump’s campaign (Trump is on trial for falsifying records in connection with reimbursing Cohen for the payment).

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Who Is Madeleine Westerhout?

Westerhout served as Trump’s executive assistant and director of Oval Office operations during his time in the White House, working from right outside the Oval Office and working directly with the then-president. She was fired from the White House in 2019 after making a series of off-the-record remarks to reporters that criticized Trump’s daughters, remarking she was closer to Trump than his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany and that the then-president refused to appear in photographs with Tiffany because she was overweight. Westerhout went on to write a book about her time in the White House, entitled “Off the Record: My Dream Job at the White House, How I Lost It, and What I Learned,” in which she remained complimentary toward Trump.

What To Watch For

Westerhout will continue testifying as the trial continues on Thursday, and it’s unclear if her testimony will continue into Friday. There are approximately three weeks left in the criminal trial, with Cohen and other potential witnesses including Trump’s children and ex-attorney Rudy Giuliani still yet to testify.

Surprising Fact

Westerhout also testified about Trump’s process for publishing tweets when he was president, claiming that when she posted on his behalf, he would dictate the tweet to her, she would type it and print it out, and then present the printed copy to Trump for him to make handwritten edits on. “There were certain words he would like to capitalize, words like ‘country,’ and he liked to use exclamation points,” Westerhout testified, as quoted by CNN, also remarking the then-president liked using the Oxford comma.

Key Background

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 felony charges against him for falsifying business records, which are based on the reimbursement checks Trump sent to Cohen for the $130,000 payment he made to silence Daniels, who alleges she had a sexual encounter with Trump in July 2006. Prosecutors allege those reimbursement payments were falsely labeled as being for legal expenses. The “Access Hollywood” tape marked a major scandal for the Trump campaign when the tape was made public, and although it didn’t prove fatal to his election, evidence in the trial has shown how it rattled the campaign. “I was concerned, very concerned,” former Trump campaign press manager Hope Hicks testified about her reaction when she was informed about the tape, saying she believed it was “a damaging development” to the campaign and she was “kind of pulling us backwards in a way that was going to be hard to overcome.