Trump Stands By ‘Access Hollywood’ Comments: ‘I Don’t Want to Lie’

While he was steamrolling CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins during Wednesday night’s town hall in New Hampshire, former President Donald Trump doubled down on his “grab ‘em by the pussy” comments from the infamous Access Hollywood tape. After Collins brought up the fact that he defended the remarks during his deposition in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case he recently lost, she wondered if he stood by his claim. “I want to be honest, this is the way it’s been. I can take it back if you’d like to, but if you’re a famous person, if you’re a star—and I’m not referring to myself,” Trump said. “I’m saying people that are famous, people that are stars, people that are rich, people that are powerful, they tend to do pretty well in a lot of different ways, okay? And you would like me to take that back. I can’t take it back because it happens to be true.” Asked again if he was standing by his remarks, Trump added: “I don’t want to lie. Here’s what you said, a rich and famous person has no advantage over anyone else. You do have an advantage, and I said, unfortunately that’s the way it is.” Collins quickly noted he also said “fortunately” during his deposition, before moving on to another question.