The second presidential debate was intended to focus more on the issues facing the country, but moderators spent a large portion of the debate focusing on an 11-year-old hot-mic tape of Donald Trump saying lewd things about women.
Anderson Cooper grilled Trump on four different occasions concerning the audio, while moderator Martha Raddatz selected an additional question from Facebook concerning the tape and one of her own.
All told, the topic used up about 10 minutes of precious debate time, ignoring the audience questions in favor of the moderators.
Zero questions were asked about Bill and Hillary Clinton’s abuse of women who claimed they were sexually harassed by former president Bill Clinton.
Read the moderator’s questions below:
- Anderson Cooper: We received a lot of questions about the tape released on Friday. You called what you said locker room banter — kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals. That is sexual assault. You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that?
- Anderson Cooper: For the record, are you saying, that what you said on the bus 11 years ago, that you did not actually kiss women without consent or grope women without consent?
- Anderson Cooper: So, for the record you’re saying you never did that?
- Anderson Cooper: Have you ever done those things?
- Martha Raddatz: This tape is generating intense interest. In just 48 hours, it’s become the single most talked about story of the entire 2016 election on Facebook with millions and millions of people discussing it on the social network. As we said a moment ago, we want to bring in questions from voters around country via social media and our first stays on this topic. Jeff from Ohio asks on Facebook, ‘Trump says the campaign has changed him. When did that happen?’
- Martha Raddatz: So, Mr. Trump, let me add to that. When you walked off that bus at age 59, were you a different man, or did that behavior continue until just recently?