Donald Trump was ‘egged on’ by Billy Bush, Melania Trump tells Anderson Cooper

MELANIA Trump insists her husband Donald Trump’s treatment of women is good and the problem is not his.

MELANIA Trump has blamed a “left wing” media conspiracy for the continued controversy over Donald Trump’s treatment of women.

In an interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, which aired today, Mrs Trump lashed out at the media for what she felt had been unfair treatment of her and her husband.

She insisted Mr Trump’s lewd comments about women in the infamous Access Hollywood tape were just “boy talk”, caused by the other man in the tape, Billy Bush, “egging him on”.

“As you can see from the tape, the cameras were not on. It was only a mic,” she said. “I wonder if they even knew that the mic was on because (it was) kind of boy talk and he was lead on, like, egged on from the host to say dirty and bad stuff.”

Trump in the leaked tape.

Mrs Trump said her husband had apologised to her for his remarks in the tape, and didn’t usually talk like that.

“Those words, they were offensive to me and they were inappropriate. And he apologised to me. And I accept his apology. And we are moving on,” she said.

“I don’t know that person that would talk that way, and that he would say that kind of stuff in private. I heard many different stuff, boys talk. The boys, the way they talk when they grow up and they want to sometimes show each other, oh, this and that, and talking about the girls. But I was surprised.”

She claimed it was “not a coincidence” that the tape, along with multiple allegations of sexual assault against Mr Trump, came out just weeks before the election.

“It was all organised,” she said. “They planned it that way because they don’t want to talk about WikiLeaks and Benghazi.

“It was left wing media, and you could see that and the way it comes out, everything is organised. This was all organised from the opposition.”

Donald Trump’s wife said the media had been very unfair to her and her husband’s campaign. Picture: Kena Betancur.

Mrs Trump said she believed NBC had known about the tape for some time before it was leaked to the Washington Post, which then published it.

Copper asked her if it was leaked on purpose.

“Yes I’m sure they did,” she replied, adding that the media bashing of herself and her husband had been grossly unfair.

Here’s more from Melania Trump’s interview:

ON THAT TAPE

Cooper asked Mrs Trump for her thoughts on the 2005 tape, in which Mr Trump was caught making lewd comments about women with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush.

“I said to my husband that, you know, the language was inappropriate. It’s not acceptable. And I was surprised, because that is not the man that I know,” she told Cooper.

While Mrs Trump released a statement about the tape last week following its emergence, this is the first time she has spoken about it on camera.

Cooper asked: “So you feel the host, Billy Bush, was egging him on?” to which she replied, “Yes.”

Mrs Trump said the tape was simply boys’ talk and nothing more.

But when Cooper raised the point that he was 59 and far from a boy, Mrs Trump said.

“Sometimes I say I have two boys at home – I have my young son and I have my husband. But I know how some men talk, and that’s how I saw it, yes,” she said.

Since the tape was leaked more than a week ago, several women have come forward claiming Trump touched them inappropriately. He has denied all the allegations, calling them false.

The tape controversy cost Billy Bush his position as Today co-host with NBC confirming in a statement that he will be leaving the show.

Melania Trump said her husband Donald had the highest respect for women. Picture: Timothy A Clary

ON WOMEN

Cooper asked what the conversation was like when Trump apologised to her over the tape.

She said it was a private matter, but she accepted his apology just like she hoped the American people would.

The mother-of-one then went on to say her husband is real and he respects women. She also said he found the transition from business to politics hard.

“It’s very hard, especially for him – when he decided to run for the presidency, because he did so many stuff in his life. He was on so many tapes, so many shows,” she said. “And we knew that — that, you know, tapes will come out, people won’t want to go against him.

“But my husband is real. He’s raw. He tells it like it is. He’s kind. He’s a gentleman. He supports everybody. He supports women. He encourages them to go to the highest level, to achieve their dreams. He employs many, many women,” she said.

Mrs Trump said she believes her husband when he denies the allegations some women have made against him, because she has seen how some have made advances towards him.

“I see many, many women coming to him and giving phone numbers and, you know, want(ing) to work for him – inappropriate stuff from women. And they know he’s married,” she said.

When Cooper asked if she had seen that happen in person, she replied she had.

“It was in front of me,” she said. “In front of me. And I’ve said, like, ‘Why did you give your number to my husband?’”

Melania Trump (pictured with Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and daughter-in-law Lara Yunaska) insists lewd comments her husband made were ‘not the man she knows’. Picture: Rick Wilking