Donald Trump used the word rape to describe former President Bill Clinton's extramarital sexual proclivities in an interview with Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday night on the FOX News Channel. Trump was responding to criticism from The New York Times about his prior conduct with women. One woman notably mentioned in the article called it a "hit piece."





SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: I asked your daughter Ivanka this morning, and she had to say my dad is not a groper. And this is referring to a "New York Times" hit piece.



I have, in the last three days, interviewed three people that know you well, two that were featured prominently in that piece. We have Rowanne Brewer Lane.



TRUMP: Right.



HANNITY: Carrie Prejean and a woman that actually came from war-torn Bosnia that worked for you and ran a lot of -- was a vice president...



TRUMP: Right.



HANNITY: Uh, Sunnana Adjav (ph).



TRUMP: Right.



HANNITY: Three women. They were absolutely livid a "The New York Times" piece. We now discover that this particular writer had been Tweeting negative things about you. This is supposed to be the paper of record. Twenty pages and it's now been completely debunked.



Does that anger you?



TRUMP: Well, first of all, I have to thank those women, rowan and, uh, Carrie and all of them, because they were written about and they were furious...



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) not true.



TRUMP: And, you know, usually -- and the girl from Utah who's just -- she's -- they made -- they said I kissed her on the lips. And I guess in front of her parents with thousands of people. And now she's come out and said this is crazy.



By the way, you know, it's not like the worst thing, because, OK, you look at what Clinton has gone through with all of the problems and all of the things that he's done.



But the -- it was so -- to -- to read this piece on the front page of "The New York Times," which was, I think, the most read story in the last year, according to what they say, and to read it and to have these young women come out and say that didn't happen, that's not what we said, that's not what we -- it was the intent. And I was so furious at that story, because there's nobody that respects women more than I do, Sean, you know that.



And I treat women with respect. And I have -- we all have fund. We all have good times. We say -- but -- and I'm also in the entertainment business and certain things -- as an example, they have me making a statement about we're going to essentially stop them or we're going to say something very nasty. I was talking about either China or Mexico. I was talking about one of the countries, because they've been ripping us off.



That was their punch line for this commercial, this phony commercial, paid for by Wall Street, by the way, I have to tell you. Paid for out of a super PAC.



And they put a commercial on (INAUDIBLE).



HANNITY: I think they spent $130 million.



TRUMP: Oh, yes. But just so you understand, the main punch line wasn't about women. So they put it in like it was about women, you know, with a blank. They put it in like it was about women. Now I guess they have to do a retraction.



These are dishonest people. These are really dishonest people. Nobody respects women more than I do.



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) from "The New York Times?"



TRUMP: Uh, we are already talking to "The New York Times." "The New York Times" is very upset because it turned out to be a total con job. The piece was a con job. And, you know, it's one thing, it's inside the paper, because that happens to me all the time, especially with "The Times" and frankly, I could mention plenty of others.



But, you know, if you're a Republican conservative, it's very, very hard to get good press, that I can tell you. You are -- you are shunned.



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).



TRUMP: No, no, I'm telling you, it's really -- it's really unfair. But this was a con job. And -- but just think of it. These women, instead of just saying, oh, that's too bad, who cares, they were incensed that they were portrayed the way they were portrayed.



And all of them got up and said we respect Donald Trump. We really like Donald Trump. He did absolutely nothing wrong.



And they're writing -- now, here's the thing. Anybody reading that story, Sean, they make me look back.



HANNITY: Carrie and -- and particularly, uh, Rowanne, both said they purposely manipulated what they were saying and that they did it on purpose, because they had said just the opposite.



TRUMP: I thought it was so amazing, because I saw -- I saw Carrie on your show and Rowanne has been all over. And she -- and I didn't speak to her specifically, OK, because I just didn't think it would be good if I called her to thank her. I didn't want to do that and to let this go by and I will absolutely.



But I will tell you, to -- to think what they did, they put themselves out on the line to do this for me. For me. And I haven't spoken to them...



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).



TRUMP: -- in many years.



So I -- I just have such respect for them.



But it just shows you, I'll tell you, it's been a disaster for "The New York Times" because "The New York Times" is a whole big con job.



HANNITY: But this is going to be the campaign. This will -- with the Clintons...



TRUMP: Oh, I know.



HANNITY: -- (INAUDIBLE) being very careful.



TRUMP: But the good thing about this, this sets the table. You know, this sort of sets the stage. People have seen this. People have seen Carrie. They've seen Rowanne. They've seen others now that are coming forward that were mentioned in that story, which, frankly, wasn't even that bad, if you want to know the truth. It's not like I -- I hope that people that haven't read it...



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).



TRUMP: No, no, but I mean -- in one take, I don't know if I -- like minor stuff. I said to one of the women, I said, um, don't eat -- you shouldn't have a piece of candy, OK?



(LAUGHTER)



TRUMP: That was...



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).



TRUMP: -- how do you compare that against Clinton, OK, what Clinton has done?



HANNITY: What about what Clinton has done?



How big an issue should that be in the campaign?



TRUMP: Hmmm.



HANNITY: For example, I looked at "The New York Times."



Are they going to interview Juanita Broderick?



Are they going to interview Paula Jones?



Are they going to interview Kathleen Willey?



In one case, it's about exposure. In another case, it's about groping and fondling and touching against a woman's will.



TRUMP: And rape.



HANNITY: And rape.



TRUMP: And big settlements, massive settlements.



HANNITY: Eight hundred and fifty thousand (INAUDIBLE)...



TRUMP: And lots of other things. And impeachment for lying.



HANNITY: Smearing.



TRUMP: Yes.



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE)



TRUMP: And losing your law license. You know, he lost his law license, OK. He couldn't practice law. And you don't read about this on Clinton. I mean now...



HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).



TRUMP: -- now, "The New York Times" and if you look at Stephanopoulos, uh, these are like the pipe organs for Hillary Clinton. Stephanopoulos, I get on his show the other day and it started -- I -- I couldn't believe it. And I actually said to him, look, obviously, you're representing -- you're, you know, privy -- he gave a lot of money to the Foundation, he did a lot of -- he never told anybody. He never told anybody.

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