S8 Ep677: 15. HEADLINE: Re-examining Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election GUEST: Craig Unger SUMMARY: Journalist Craig Unger reviews the events of October 7, 2016, involving DHS warnings of Russian hacking and the release of the Access Hollywood tape. He
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John Batchelor
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🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
15. HEADLINE: Re-examining RussianInterference in the 2016 U.S. ElectionGUEST: Craig Unger SUMMARY: Journalist Craig Unger reviews the events of October 7, 2016, involving DHS warnings of Russian hacking and the release of the Access Hollywood tape. He argues the timing benefited the Trump campaign. (15)
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batchler. I welcome Craig Unger, the journalist and bestselling author of two books that are extremely relevant here in 2026 during the second Trump administration. |
| 0:27.5 | How did we get here? |
| 0:29.0 | American Compromat and House of Trump, House of Putin, both deal with Donald Trump and his lieutenant in conversation, in connection, in conjunction, parallel |
| 0:40.5 | with, coincidentally with Russian agents, of many stripes, both Soviet and post-Soviet. |
| 0:48.3 | But we begin with a notable date in my memory of the campaign of 2016, October 7, 2016. |
| 0:57.1 | Reporting that day, there was one story for me, and it was repeated again and again and again. |
| 1:02.4 | It looked like a torpedo well below the waterline in the Trump campaign. |
| 1:09.9 | It was released by the Washington Post of a videotape of |
| 1:14.0 | Access Hollywood, then a popular program narrated by a young celebrity named Billy Bush. And on that |
| 1:21.3 | videotape, undeniably, Mr. Trump walking and talking in a jovial mood was boasting to Billy Bush and others listening |
| 1:29.1 | to him that he routinely groped and abused women he didn't know. Some he did know. It was |
| 1:35.0 | routine for him. He laughed at off as some kind of boyish adventure. Well, it was overwhelming |
| 1:43.9 | on the campaign trail. And at that point, Mrs. Clinton, |
| 1:47.5 | who was well ahead in all polling, was seen as the once and future president of the United |
| 1:53.6 | States, except that's not how it turned out. Craig, a very good evening to you. There were other |
| 1:58.7 | events that day that apparently were also critical. |
| 2:01.6 | All I remember is Access Hollywood and Mr. Trump laughing as he boasted. What else happened that |
| 2:08.1 | day that we missed those of us just reading the news? Good day to you, Craig. |
| 2:12.9 | Good evening, John, and thanks for having me. Yeah, I think October 7th was one of those extraordinary |
| 2:18.7 | days in which the news was exactly the opposite of what one might think it meant. That is, |
| 2:28.0 | the news that came out by all reasonable measures should have destroyed the Trump campaign, and instead it sealed his victory. |
| 2:38.1 | And the first, we're really, I'm really drilling down on late afternoon of October 7th. |
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