republican nominee donald trump on thursday said it was <u+201c>an illegal act<u+201d> for nbc to release earlier this month a 2005 videotape of him making lewd comments about women, and threatened to take legal action against the network. in an interview with fox news<u+2019>s bill o<u+2019>reilly that aired thursday, mr. trump once again defended his comments<u+2014>in which he said of groping women, <u+201c>when you<u+2019>re a star, they let you do it<u+201d><u+2014>as <u+201c>locker-room talk,<u+201d> and added: <u+201c>the microphone was not supposed to be on<u+2014>not that i make that as an excuse for myself, but certainly it was an illegal act that was nbc. it was not supposed to be on.<u+201d> asked to clarify whether he thought it was illegal that nbc had released the tape, from a filming of <u+201c>access hollywood,<u+201d> he said, <u+201c>oh, absolutely. you know that was a private dressing room<u+2014>yeah that was certainly illegal, no question about it.<u+201d> the tape shows mr. trump speaking on a bus with the show<u+2019>s name on it as he arrived on the set of the soap opera <u+201c>days of our lives.<u+201d> on whether he would seek legal action against nbc, mr. trump said <u+201c>you<u+2019>re going to see after the election,<u+201d> and added, <u+201c>we<u+2019>re gonna find out soon enough, i will tell you.<u+201d> earlier this month, both the washington post and nbc reported on tapes obtained from the <u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> filming in which a recently married mr. trump professed his penchant for kissing women <u+2014><u+201c>just kiss. i don<u+2019>t even wait<u+201d><u+2014>and said, <u+201c>grab them by the pussy. you can do anything.<u+201d> mr. trump was speaking to then-<u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> anchor billy bush, who has since been fired by the network. since the tape<u+2019>s release, mr. trump<u+2019>s standing in the polls has fallen, as a series of women have alleged that he sexually assaulted them. mr. trump has denied the allegations. a real clear politics average of recent national polls shows democratic nominee hillary clinton with a lead of nearly 6 percentage points. nbc is the latest entity mr. trump has threatened with a lawsuit in recent weeks. after the new york times earlier this month published the accounts of two women who said mr. trump had inappropriately touched them, the nominee threatened to sue the newspaper for libel . last weekend, he for the first time he threatened to sue the women who have accused him of making unwanted sexual advances toward them. write to rebecca ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com
trump calls nbc release of 2005 video <u+2018>an illegal act<u+2019> - wsj
rebecca ballhaus