Even Donald Trump was able to predict more than a decade ago that he’d be a lightning rod for controversy were he to ever run for president, according to newly resurfaced video.
In a video picked up by Fusion and rebroadcast by NBC this week, Trump told Chris Matthews in a 1998 interview that aired on CNBC that his history with women would be an issue should he make a bid for the White House.
“Can you imagine how controversial I’d be?” Trump said in the clip. “You think about (Bill Clinton) with the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?”
According to Fusion, Matthews was asking Trump about someday running for president.
Trump’s history with women has been in focus throughout the campaign, sharpening this week after the surfacing of a hot mic tape that featured Trump making lewd and sexually aggressive comments.
Since then, several women have come forward to the media to recount allegations that Trump forced himself on them or groped them. Trump has denied all the accusations, calling them total fabrications. CNN has not yet independently confirmed those accounts.
Trump was for decades very accessible to the press, often talking with radio shock jock Howard Stern about his love life and playboy lifestyle.