Eight years after it originally became public, the “Access Hollywood” recording of Donald Trump bragging about “grabbing women by the pussy” is having a resurgence. 

The recording was published a month before the 2016 election, and while in its immediate aftermath many Republicans distanced themselves from Trump and condemned his words, he went on to win the election.

In the audio Trump describes how he’s “automatically attracted” to beautiful women and “just starts kissing them. It’s like a magnet…I don’t even wait.” He stated: “When you’re a star, they’ll let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Now the former president is running again, and several young women have posted viral TikTok videos of them reacting to the audio, prompting some young people to listen to it for the first time. Democrats are also resurfacing the lewd comments in this critical week before the election as a way to emphasize the long history of sexual misconduct accusations against Trump made by women even as he claims to be their protector whether they “like it or not.”

Many young voters may have encountered Trump’s comments for the first time this week. Newly eligible voters this year would have been 10 years old when the tape was published in 2016.

“I don’t think any of my friends had heard it,” Kate Sullivan told The Washington Post. The 21-year-old in Ohio heard the clip for the first time on TikTok.

Sullivan posted a video of herself listening to the Trump tape on TikTok last Friday, her eyes widening when the former president says he moved onto a potential conquest “like a bitch.” White text across the video reads “Fathers are voting for this man.” It has garnered over 2.7 million views in a week. In the caption, Sullivan tagged Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

While Trump’s remarks didn’t make a notable appearance in 2020, Democrats had been planning on re-upping them even before the tape reentered the public consciousness. On Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee announced a seven-figure digital ad buy across lifestyle magazines. The ad aimed at women, running in Vogue and Glamour, has “Grab them by the” written in cursive with a tabby cat peeking out from behind a ballot box. It urges viewers to vote Democrat, and is meant to remind women who might not be engaged in political news of how they felt when they heard Trump’s comments for the first time. 

“Trump’s rhetoric has only become more extreme and disturbing over the years, and whether it’s a comment from 10 years ago or yesterday, it strikes a chord with American women because it’s not just hot air — it reflects a real record and agenda that undermines women’s right to control their own bodies,” Rosemary Boeglin, DNC Communications director, wrote over email.

Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, brought Trump’s words up this week, tying them to the policies he has championed while in office and on the trail. “Those women you are thinking about, they have fewer rights than their mothers or their grandmothers had,” Walz said at a campaign rally in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. “Now 20 states have the Trump abortion ban.”

He referenced Trump’s assertion earlier in the week that we would be a “protector of women” whether “they like it or not.”

“That’s how this guy has lived his life,” Walz said. “That’s why he was on the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape and that’s why he ended up in court.”

In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. He was found liable for defamation against her again after the verdict, and was ordered to pay $83 million in damages on top of the $5 million already owed Carroll. 

Trump originally apologized in 2016 after the tape was released, but has since cast doubt on its authenticity.

Wynton Wong contributed reporting.