Donald Trump's frequent appearances on Howard Stern's radio show have repeatedly come back to haunt the GOP presidential nominee, with his rating scale for women's appearances, his sex life and his position on the Iraq war all fodder for election-season discussion.
Now, the shock jock is speaking out for the first time about Trump, the role his radio show has played in the campaign and the controversial statements Trump made about women.
Stern, a Democrat, said he wasn't replaying his interviews with Trump because to do so would be a "betrayal."
"Donald Trump did the show in an effort to be entertaining and have fun with us," Stern said on his show on Sirius satellite radio. "I fully knew what I was doing when I interviewed Trump. I knew I had a guy who loved to talk about sex. ... I had a guy who loved to evaluate women on a scale of 1 to 10. These are avenues I went down because I knew it would entertain the audience."
Stern, who considers Trump a friend, said he has asked why Trump is running for president and said he was surprised the recordings from his radio show didn't emerge earlier.
"I said, 'Why are you doing this?' " Stern said he asked Trump earlier this year. " 'Why would a guy with billions of dollars (run for president)? ... Don't you know what they're gonna do to you? Don't you know they're gonna open up everything?' "
Stern, whose radio career was built on raunchy talk, also weighed in on the videotape that recently emerged where Trump says he can kiss and grope women without their consent because of his celebrity. Stern disputed Trump's defense that the words were merely "locker room talk."
"I have never been in the room when someone has said, 'Grab them by the pussy,' " said Stern, repeating the phrase Trump used in the 2005 recording. "No one's ever advocated going that step where you get a little bit, 'Hey I'm going to invade someone's space.' "
