Where can I find the original Howard Stern audio for Donald Trump's 2006 interviews to compare against transcripts?

1. Where the audio has appeared online: fan repositories and archive projects

Collections assembled by independent researchers and fans have placed many of Trump’s Stern appearances online—most notably the TrumpOnStern project, which claims to have collected recordings of many pre-2016 appearances and invites tips about missing files ^[3], and uploads to general archival sites such as the Internet Archive where at least some Stern–Trump episodes (for example a 2008 interview file) have been hosted ^[4]. These repositories are useful because they present full segments, not just clips, and can be cross-referenced against transcripts, but users should note that provenance is often informal and curatorial notes vary ^{[3] [4]}.

2. Where reliable transcripts and edited text versions live

For side-by-side comparison, detailed transcripts published by Factbase/Factba.se and republished or mirrored by outlets such as Roll Call present verbatim or near-verbatim text of specific Stern episodes, including a dated October 10, 2006 transcript and earlier shows that include the exchanges commonly cited in later reporting ^{[2] [5]}. These text versions are valuable for keyword searching and time-stamping quotes; researchers should pair them with audio to check transcription accuracy and tone, as transcription can miss overlapping speech and laughter cues that matter for interpretation ^[2].

3. Why the “original” tapes are hard to pin down: leaks, DMCA takedowns, and proprietary control

A crucial caveat is that Howard Stern’s original show archives are controlled by Stern and SiriusXM; in 2017 an extensive leak of roughly 15 hours of Trump-focused Stern audio surfaced via Factba.se and other outlets but was pulled after a DMCA takedown and cease-and-desist, demonstrating how quickly copies can disappear and why ‘original’ master recordings are not publicly guaranteed ^[1]. Media reporting and archive projects often rely on copies obtained from anonymous sources or fan-recorded distributions, meaning absolute chain-of-custody for an “original” master tape is rarely provable in public sources ^{[1] [6]}.

4. Helpful journalistic and fact-checking context before drawing conclusions

When specific short clips circulate—such as the viral 2006 moment where Stern calls Trump a “sexual predator” and Trump appears to reply “That’s true”—fact-checkers and outlets have traced the clip to the February 2006 broadcast and examined context; Snopes and outlets like People/IMDb reported and evaluated that clip as resurfaced content, illustrating the need to consult both full audio and contemporaneous transcripts to understand the exchange fully ^{[7] [8]}. News coverage from outlets that first highlighted the broader archive release (Newsweek, Mashable) helps track what was made public and what remains controlled, which is useful for provenance checks ^[9].

5. Practical steps to obtain the best available audio for comparison

Begin with the public transcripts on Roll Call/Factbase for timecodes and quotes ^[2], then search archived repositories such as TrumpOnStern and the Internet Archive for full audio files or longer clips that match those timecodes ^{[3] [4]}; if a particular file is missing, search news coverage of the 2017 leak (which documents which episodes surfaced) and monitor DMCA-removed mirrors or cached versions noted in reporting ^{[1] [9]}. For the closest thing to “original” masters, request access from SiriusXM/Howard Stern’s rights holders or seek contemporaneous broadcast recordings held by libraries or legal discovery in cases where they were submitted as exhibits—public reporting shows those parties control the definitive archives even if they have not released them broadly ^[1].