10 November,2016 08:30 AM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
Even as the world comes to terms with the fact that US has elected Donald Trump as President, a look at the controversies that were expected to cause a hindrance in his path to the White House, but didn't
Prez Report: 5 shocking controversies of Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Even as the world comes to terms with the fact that America has elected Donald Trump as the next President, we take a look at his controversies that were expected to cause a hindrance in his path to the White House, but did not.
Five women accuse Trump of sexual harassment: In October 2016, five women accused Trump of sexual assault and harassment, The New York Times reported two women's detailed accounts of Trump groping them. There was a similar account from another woman in the Palm Beach Post. Former Apprentice contestant Jennifer Murphy and People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff also levelled similar allegations against him. Jessica Leeds, 74, said Trump had groped her when the two were seated next to each other on a flight more than three decades ago.
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Rachel Crooks, who worked for a firm based in Trump Tower in 2005, found herself in a lift with Trump and tried to introduce herself by shaking his hand. The Apprentice star kissed Crooks, then 22, "directly on the mouth", she told the New York Times. Mindy McGillivray, 36, told the Palm Beach Post that she was groped by Trump during a party at his Florida property Mar-a-Lago 13 years ago, while Murphy told Grazia that Trump had kissed her on the lips at the end of a 2005 job interview.
Lewd video: Last month, a 2005 video of Trump surfaced, in which he made lewd remarks about women, prompting a rare apology from the controversial Republican presidential candidate. The video, obtained by the Washington Post, captures Trump having an extremely lewd conversation about women. "I just start kissing them...Just kiss. I don't even wait," Trump is quoted saying. "And when you're a star they let you do it," he says in the recording.
The 70-year-old business tycoon bragged in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women during the conversation caught on a microphone. Following outrage over his comments, Trump said, "This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close." In a taped apology posted on his Facebook page, Trump said, "I've never said I'm a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them."
Donald and Melania Trump. File pic/AFP
'Ban' Muslims: In December 2015, Trump sent shock waves through the political establishment with a call to bar Muslims from entering the US until lawmakers figure out what is going on. "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a campaign press release said. Trump made his controversial call in the wake of mass shooting in California by a Pakistani origin couple.
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"Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine," Trump said in a statement. "Until we are able to understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life."
Tax evasion for 18 years: Trump has acknowledged that he "brilliantly used" tax laws to pay as little tax as legally possible. "As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit, and to the benefit of my company and my employees. I have often said on the campaign trail, that I have a fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than legally required or, put another way, to pay as little tax as legally possible," Trump had said at an election rally in Colorado.
Punish women for illegal abortions: In March this year, Trump has kicked off a political storm with a controversial comment that women should be punished for illegal abortions. There has to be some form of punishment," Trump said in an interview with MSNBC news channel after the host asked him: "Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no?" "For the woman?" asked the host. "Yeah, there has to be some form," Trump, 69, responded. In another controversial jibe, he had said women in the Islamic world like wearing burqas because it is easier as they do not have to wear makeup.
