WARNING: This story contains graphic language.
Former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann insinuated on Saturday morning that the Clinton campaign was behind leaking the decade-old audio recording of Donald Trump spewing vulgarities about women.
“I think what we’ve been hearing last Friday night is actually pretty predictable. The Clinton campaign had to change the conversation because she had a lot of really bad news this week,” Bachmann said on CNN Saturday morning.
“And so this 11-year-old bad boy locker room talk, this is how she wanted to do it. She’s trying to tell the media what she wants them to focus on; the questions she wants Anderson Cooper and the people in the room to ask her on Sunday night.”
Ahead of the second presidential debate that is scheduled to air Sunday evening, Bachmann appears to be standing behind the GOP presidential nominee despite the crude remarks that were uncovered by Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold.
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a CNN request for comment. CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that sources with NBC thought someone from inside NBC downloaded the footage from one of the network’s video servers. Although Fahrenthold is aware of the identity of the source, he is granting the individual anonymity as per requested, according to The Washington Post.
The audio is from unaired footage of “Access Hollywood” and catches a candid moment of Trump with a hot mic. Trump, while on a bus with Tv personality Billy Bush, divulges a story about attempting to “fuck” a married woman and later goes onto boast about groping women because of his “star” status.
“I better 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. I just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy,” Trump can be heard saying in the audio.
When Bachmann was pressed on how she felt about the comments from the perspective of being a woman and mother, the Minnesota Republican devoted her answer to instead slamming Clinton.
“Nothing happens by accident from the Clinton campaign. This was absolutely a planned premeditated event to drive the conversation,” Bachmann said.