As Donald Trump gleefully skewers men like Matt Lauer and Sen. Al Franken on Twitter over allegations of sexual harassment, the president himself is facing accusations of being a "creeper."
On Wednesday night, the Daily Beast reported that Trump once bragged there's "nothing in the world like first-rate pussy" while leering at a young woman at his golf club at Mar-a-Lago. Michael Corcoran, a reporter for the now-defunct Maximum Golf magazine, said he heard the remark while he shadowed Trump in 2000 for a feature story.
According to Corcoran and his then-editor, Joe Bargmann, the quote was altered in the article by the magazine's editor-in-chief, who swapped the word "pussy" for the rather more innocuous "talent."
"I was asked to change the last word of the story from 'pussy.' When I refused, my top editor changed the quote," Bargmann said.
As the Daily Beast noted, the word "pussy" is not uncommon in Trump's parlance. Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson said Trump once told him he gets "more pussy than you do" after Carlson made a jibe on air about his hair.
In the now-infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, Trump is heard boasting about being able to grab women "by the pussy."
Using smutty language, however, isn't the worst of the allegations leveled against the president. Trump has been accused by at least 16 women of sexual harassment and assault. Among them, Jill Harth said Trump sexually assaulted her in his daughter Ivanka's bedroom in 1993; Jessica Leeds said Trump "grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt" on an airplane in the 1970s; and Rachel Crooks, then a 22-year-old receptionist in Trump Tower, said Trump kissed her "directly on the mouth" at their first meeting in 2005.
The White House has said that all 16 women are lying.
As sexual harassment and assault allegations against powerful men in Hollywood, the media and elsewhere continue to dominate the news cycle, Trump has not minced words in condemning the behavior of men like Franken (D-Minn.) and former President Bill Clinton. Wednesday he called out NBC anchor Matt Lauer after he was fired over sexual misconduct allegations.
While those accused certainly deserve scrutiny, Trump has been nothing if not entirely dismissive of similar allegations leveled against him ― and those he considers friends.
He's recently tried to deny that the voice on the "Access Hollywood" tape was his, despite once publicly acknowledging its authenticity. And he spoke up in defense of Roy Moore, the Republican Senate nominee in Alabama who has been accused of sexual misconduct, including with minors.
"He says it didn't happen," the president told reporters of Moore earlier this month. "You have to listen to him also."