Donald Trump looked back on the wild allegations about him getting a “golden shower” from sex workers in Russia during an unbelievable moment at an Iowa rally.
Speaking in Fort Dodge on Saturday, the former president brought up the mostly-debunked 2016 dossier in which ex-British spy Christopher Steele alleged Mr Trump had paid sex workers to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel.
Mr Trump gave a rambling retelling of his conversation with wife Melania after the claims emerged.
“‘He was with four hookers’ — you think that was good that night to go up and tell my wife? ‘It’s not true darling, I love you very much, it’s not true,’” Mr Trump said.
"Actually, that one she didn’t believe because she said he’s a germaphobe, he’s not into that, you know. He’s not into golden showers as they say.”
This is hardly the first time Mr Trump has vehemently disputed the contents of the Steele dossier, which was funded by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
The research alleged that Russian authorities had covertly filmed Mr Trump’s interaction with sex workers on a hotel bed once used by Barack and Michelle Obama.
He gave similar remarks about Melania’s response in a speech last November, saying she had told him: “I know that’s not your thing.”
In March 2022, the Federal Election Commission fined the Clinton campaign and the DNC for not properly disclosing the more than $1m it funneled into the research.
The Democrats funded the research through law firm Perkins Coie, which hired research outfit Fusion GPS, the group that then tasked Mr Steele to pursue his research.
The former intelligence agent has maintained that his work was unverified, warranted further investigation, and wasn’t meant for public consumption.
However, the contents of the dossier leaked in January 2017, just as Mr Trump was set to take office.
There is no evidence that the video described by Mr Steele exists. He defended his research in October 2021, claiming the tape “probably exists” but is being withheld by the Russian government.
Elsewhere in his Iowa speech on Saturday, Mr Trump celebrated his win in a Colorado election case that sought to remove him from the state’s primary ballot.
A judge rejected the removal effort on Friday, concluding that Mr Trump had engaged in insurrection during the January 6 Capitol riot but that it was unclear whether a Civil War-era constitutionalamendment barring insurrectionists from public office applied to the presidency. It was Trump’s latest win following rulings in similar cases in Minnesota and Michigan.
Mr Trump called the decision “a gigantic court victory” as he panned what he called “an outrageous attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters by getting us thrown off the ballot.”
“Our opponents are showing every day that they hate democracy,” he charged before a crowd of about 2,000 people at a commit-to-caucus event at a high school in Fort Dodge.
Mr Trump energised the crowd two months out from the Iowa caucuses on 15 January, drawing raucous applause as he asked: “Will you please give me a good showing? That’s the least you can do.”
The Independent’s Josh Marcus and the Associated Press contributed to this report
