It seems pretty safe to say that in the aftermath of Buzzfeed publishing an unsubstantiated dossier alleging Russia was attempting to compromise President-elect Donald Trump, quite a bit of focus was centered on the unverified and salacious claim that Trump hired Russian prostitutes for a “golden shower” party. Immediately, it became the top-trending item on Twitter and even led to Trump himself saying he was a “germaphobe” during this week’s press conference in an effort to debunk the story.

Given all of this, an old Howard Stern interview now seems a whole lot more interesting in retrospect.

During a 2001 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Trump and gossip columnist A.J. Benza were engaged in a sophomoric battle over ex-girlfriends, with Trump needling Benza about stealing his woman. (Something we noted in August 2015.) At one point during the back-and-forth, after Trump said he hoped “A.J.’s clean,” Benza responded by claiming Trump “bangs Russian people.” Trump shot back, stating “who are you talking about” and “I don’t know anything.”

“He used to call me when I was a columnist and say, ‘I was just in Russia, the girls have no morals, you gotta get out there’,” Benza noted. “He’s out of his mind.”

During his press conference, besides talking about his germaphobic tendencies, the incoming POTUS went on a tangent about how Russians have cameras everywhere and that when he visited during the Miss Universe contest a few years ago, he warned everyone to “be careful.”

Listen to the clip above.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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