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What are the exact words from Donald Trump's 2005 Access Hollywood tape transcript?
Executive summary
The available sources reproduce a verbatim transcript of the 2005 Access Hollywood conversation in which Donald Trump and Billy Bush discuss women; major outlets and archives published full or near-full transcripts after The Washington Post released the clip in October 2016 (see The New York Times transcript and VOA’s text) [1] [2]. Courts later allowed the transcript to be used as evidence though not the audio itself in at least one New York trial ruling [3].
1. What the published transcripts contain — the core excerpts
Multiple reputable outlets published what they described as full or relevant portions of the exchange, including Trump describing moving on a married woman, saying “I did try and f--- her,” and speaking of being “automatically attracted to beautiful” women and “just start kissing them,” along with the line about famous men being able to “grab” women’s genitals because “they let you do it”; the VOA transcript reproduces those passages verbatim [2]. The New York Times published the “relevant portion of the transcript” and reported that Access Hollywood’s own host said “the tape is very real” and that Trump “said every one of those words” [1].
2. Publication history and sourcing of the transcript
The Washington Post published the original video and article in October 2016; after that, outlets such as VOA, The New York Times and others circulated full or near-full transcripts based on the released recording and newsroom transcriptions [2] [1]. Some later projects (for example, academic or performance labs) located longer or unedited versions and noted small differences or previously omitted minutes — signaling that multiple transcript versions exist in reporting and archives [4] [5].
3. Legal use: transcript vs. audio
A New York judge ruled in April 2024 that the Access Hollywood audio itself would not be played to jurors in one Manhattan trial because it could be “unduly prejudicial,” but the judge allowed prosecutors to introduce the tape’s transcript or question witnesses about its contents — effectively authorizing transcription-based evidence even when audio playback was barred [3].
4. Disputes, denials and defenses recorded in reporting
Reporting shows two competing lines: critics treated the transcript as straightforward evidence of vulgar, nonconsensual-bragging behavior and used it to question Trump’s conduct; Trump and some allies initially called it “locker-room banter” and later, according to reporting, hinted at disputing authenticity in private — though Access Hollywood’s host publicly said the tape was real [1] [6]. The Guardian and The New York Times pieces note the dispute over accuracy and the pushback from Trump’s camp [6] [1].
5. Variations, edits and “full” vs. broadcast versions
Academic projects and performance labs reported they found additional material in an “unedited” version with roughly two extra minutes that certain outlets omitted in initial coverage; those researchers said the additional dialogue could affect interpretation and that some widely circulated transcripts contained small errors [4] [5]. That means “exact words” sometimes differ by source depending on whether they transcribed the originally released clip, a fuller raw file, or an edited broadcast segment [4].
6. Where to find the transcript text in reporting archives
If you want the verbatim words as published by mainstream outlets, look to the Washington Post’s original story (source of initial release) and the subsequent reproduced transcripts at outlets such as VOA and The New York Times; VOA’s October 8, 2016 transcript reproduces the key passages and is cited in later scholarship and coverage [2] [1]. The NYU Verbatim Performance Lab and other repositories have archived the longer unedited clip and their own transcriptions [5] [4].
7. Limits of public reporting and my sourcing constraints
Available sources in your search set provide published transcripts and reporting about legal rulings and disputes, but this set does not include the Washington Post’s original transcript text verbatim within the provided snippets (though the Post is the original publisher), and I must rely only on the provided sources. Therefore I have not reproduced a full, line-by-line transcript here; readers seeking the exact, word-for-word text should consult the Washington Post’s October 2016 publication and the full transcripts archived by outlets such as VOA and The New York Times [2] [1]. Academic repositories that located longer raw clips also document minor transcription differences [4] [5].
8. Context — why the words mattered politically and culturally
The transcript’s explicit descriptions and phrases (“I did try and f--- her,” “grab” women’s genitals, “locker-room banter”) dominated the 2016 campaign’s final weeks and have remained a touchstone in debates over Trump’s conduct, credibility, and fitness for office; that enduring relevance is why courts and campaigns continued to litigate both the transcript’s evidentiary use and its public meaning years later [1] [3].
If you want, I can (a) compile and display a side-by-side of the widely circulated VOA and New York Times transcript segments, (b) point to the Washington Post link that originally released the clip, or (c) summarize the specific small differences reported between the edited and unedited versions (based on the sources above).