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US women's group plays Trump's "Grab them" tape on Washington Mall

by Ellen Wulfhorst | @EJWulfhorst | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 6 October 2017 18:20 GMT

The Washington Monument is seen on the National Mall in Washington, U.S., September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

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Millions of women demonstrated around the world in January, the day after Trump was sworn into office, objecting to his views toward women's rights

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An infamous 12-year-old videotape of President Donald Trump was being shown on a continuous loop on the Mall in Washington, D.C. on Friday by a group protesting his attitudes toward women, local media reported.

The women's group Ultraviolet was playing the tape for 12 hours straight to mark one year since it was leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign, it said.

The tape of the then-candidate bragging about groping and having sex with women was recorded on an open microphone while Trump was about to tape a segment of a television show "Access Hollywood."

He can be heard saying: "Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

"Last October, we learned that the now president of the United States is a proud sexual predator," Ultraviolet and other activist groups posted on Facebook on Friday.

"Trump does not get to brush this under the rug," it wrote.

During the campaign, Trump was criticized for his comments about women, such as insults he made about a beauty queen contestant.

Since Trump took office, his administration has proposed or undertaken measures that many see as harmful to women's rights, particularly in the areas of abortion access, health insurance, child care and workplace policies.

On Friday, his administration eviscerated requirements under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act law that employers provide insurance to cover women's birth control, keeping a campaign pledge that pleased his conservative Christian supporters.

Millions of women demonstrated around the world in January, the day after Trump was sworn into office, objecting to his views toward women's rights.

The tape was playing on a large screen set up near the Washington Monument, the Washington Post, Boston Globe and other major media reported.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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