--- title: Donald Trump Accusers: 'Not My First Choice' Transcript description: Donald Trump personally fired back at several women who have accused him of sexual harassment or assault at a campaign rally. canonical: https://time.com/4532181/donald-trump-north-carolina-accusers-speech-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-14T20:52:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:50:50.819Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Trump's Speech Attacking His Accusers og:description: "Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you." og:url: https://time.com/4532181/donald-trump-north-carolina-accusers-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt375e882cdf936ffd/6988aa19a988ca3cf46b9c25/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Trump's Speech Attacking His Accusers twitter:description: "Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt375e882cdf936ffd/6988aa19a988ca3cf46b9c25/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 02:15 video:published: 2016-10-14 section: politics topics: sexual assault allegations, Donald Trump, 2016 presidential election, accusations and denials, political campaigns, media coverage, character attacks genre: political speech, news tones: defensive, combative, dismissive, emphatic emotions: anger (high), defensiveness (high), contempt (medium) sentiment: negative audience: voters, political news followers, general news audiences people: Donald Trump content_suitability: sexual assault allegations [00:00-02:15]; politics [00:00-02:15]; profanity [00:00-02:15] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Read Donald Trump's Speech Attacking His Accusers > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6d1cfc99-6e98-49a7-8d07-b7ce902e000b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump Personally Attacked the Women Accusing Him of Sexual Assault [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump Personally Attacked the Women Accusing Him of Sexual Assault](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9BNDBkz1.m3u8) (2:15)  _Published 2016-10-14. Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks against the women accusing him of sexual assault_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary Donald Trump responds to women accusing him of sexual assault, calling the accusations lies, smears and a setup, and saying he has no idea who the accusers are. He argues the accusations came less than a month before a major election and that they have no witnesses. He says he feels he has to dispute them, and claims that even a simple investigation would show the allegations are nonsense. ## Key points - Trump says he is being viciously attacked with lies and smears. (00:00) - Trump says he has no idea who the accusing women are. (00:05) - Trump calls the stories total fiction and says they never happened. (00:24) - Trump suggests some accusers are doing it for a little fame and calls it a total setup. (00:40) - Trump says the accusations surfaced less than a month before one of the most important elections in the country's history. (00:50) - Trump says the accusations have no witnesses. (01:01) - Trump says his advisers told him not to talk about it and to focus on jobs and the economy, but he feels he has to dispute the claims. (01:17) - Trump says even a simple investigation would have shown the allegations are nonsense in just about all cases. (02:06) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:24] Trump denies the accusations as lies. Trump says he is being attacked with lies and claims he does not know the accusing women. - [00:24 to 00:50] Trump calls the stories fiction. Trump asserts the stories are fabricated and suggests some accusers seek fame. - [00:50 to 01:17] Timing of accusations before election. Trump argues the accusations emerged shortly before a major election and lack witnesses. - [01:17 to 02:15] Trump says he must dispute the claims. Trump explains why he feels compelled to respond and says the allegations are nonsense. ## Key quotes - [00:00] Donald Trump: "I am being viciously attacked with lies and smears." - [00:24] Donald Trump: "The stories are total fiction." - [00:40] Donald Trump: "It's a total setup." - [00:50] Donald Trump: "Less than a month before one of the most important elections in the history of our country." - [01:37] Donald Trump: "you have to dispute when somebody says something." - [02:06] Donald Trump: "Even a simple investigation would have shown these allegations against me, in just about all cases, it's nonsense." ## Questions this video answers - How does Donald Trump respond to the women accusing him of sexual assault? [00:00] - Does Trump say he knows the accusing women? [00:05] - Why does Trump say the accusations are not credible? [00:24] - What timing does Trump point to regarding the accusations? [00:50] - Why does Trump say he feels he has to respond publicly? [01:37] - What does Trump say a simple investigation would show? [02:06] ## Content suitability - sexual assault allegations [00:00-02:15]: Discussion of accusations of sexual assault against a public figure. - politics [00:00-02:15]: Political figure responding to allegations during an election campaign. - profanity [00:00-02:15]: Describes accusers as a horrible woman and uses disparaging language; no strong profanity present. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Oct 14, 2016 8:52 PM UTC Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks against the women accusing him of sexual assault by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Oct 14, 2016 8:52 PM UTC Donald Trump personally [fired back at several women](http://time.com/4531872/donald-trump-sexual-assault-accusers-attack/) who have accused him of sexual harassment or assault at a campaign rally in North Carolina. Speaking in front of a rowdy crowd in Greensboro Friday afternoon, Trump said all of the allegations were lies, called one accuser a “horrible woman,” told his followers to look another up on Facebook and said another accuser “would not be my first choice.” Here’s a complete transcript of the rally. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] I am being viciously attacked with lies and smears. [00:05] It's a phony deal. I have no idea who these idea who these [00:09] women are. I have no idea. I have no idea. And [00:13] I think you all know I have no idea because you [00:16] understand me for a lot fo years. Okay. When you looked at [00:20] that horrible woman last night you said I don't think so. I [00:24] don't think so. The stories are total fiction. [00:29] They're 100 % made up. They never happened. [00:34] They never would happen. I don't think that happened [00:38] with very many people, but they certainly aren't gonna [00:40] happen with me. Some are doing it for probably a little [00:44] fame. They get some free fame. It's a total setup. [00:50] Now suddenly after many, many years phony accusers [00:54] come out Less than a month before one of the most [00:58] important elections in the history of our country. I don't [01:01] know who they are, I don't know who. Think that what's [01:04] happening to our country, think of what's happened. I don't [01:06] know who these people are. I look on television, I think it's [01:09] a disgusting thing, and it's being pushed, they have no [01:12] witnesses. There's nobody around. Folks. You [01:17] know, my people always says, don't talk about it. Talk about [01:20] jobs. Talk about the economy. Don't worry about it. Your [01:24] jobs will be coming back to North Carolina like you've [01:26] never seen, the economy is going to be good. [01:32] But I feel I have to talk about it. Because you [01:37] have to dispute when somebody says something. And [01:39] fortunately we have the microphone, we're able to dispute, [01:41] some people can't. One came out recently where [01:46] I was sitting alone at some club. I really don't sit alone that [01:49] much. Honestly, folks, I don't think I sit alone, I go in with [01:52] [ UNKNOWN ], I was sitting alone by myself, like this. And [01:55] then I went, [ UNKNOWN ] [ LAUGH ] To [02:00] somebody, I just heard this one, it's [02:06] like unbelievable. Even a simple investigation would have [02:10] shown these allegations against me, in just about all [02:14] cases, it's nonsense. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4532181/donald-trump-north-carolina-accusers-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4532181/donald-trump-north-carolina-accusers-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Donald Trump's Speech Attacking His Accusers","datePublished":"2016-10-14T20:52:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:50:50.819Z","description":"'Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you'","url":"https://time.com/4532181/donald-trump-north-carolina-accusers-speech-transcript/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","North Carolina","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt375e882cdf936ffd/6988aa19a988ca3cf46b9c25/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt375e882cdf936ffd/6988aa19a988ca3cf46b9c25/donald-trump8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, in Greensboro, N.C. 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