by Donald Trump hit back at wild allegations that he received a “golden shower” from sex workers in Russia during an incredible moment at a rally in Iowa.
Speaking in Fort Dodge on Saturday, the former president cited the largely debunked 2016 dossier in which former British spy Christopher Steele alleged that Trump paid sex workers to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel.
Mr Trump gave a rambling replay of his conversation with his wife Melania after the allegations emerged.
“He was with four harlots” — do you think it was a good thing that night for me to go up and tell my wife? “It's not true my love, I love you so much, it's not true,” Trump said.
“Actually, the one who didn't believe it because he said he's thermophobic, he doesn't like that, you know. He doesn't like it as they say.
This is hardly the first time that Trump has strongly disputed the contents of the Steele dossier, which was funded by Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
The investigation alleged that Russian authorities had secretly taped Mr Trump's interaction with sex workers in a hotel bed once used by Barack and Michelle Obama.
He made similar remarks about Melania's response to a speech last November, saying she had told him: “I know it's none of your business.”
In March 2022, the Federal Election Commission fined the Clinton campaign and the DNC for failing to properly disclose the more than $1 million it poured into the investigation.
Democrats funded the investigation through the law firm Perkins Coie, which hired the investigative team Fusion GPS, the team it then tasked Mr. Steele with continuing his investigation.
The former Secret Service agent argued that his work was unverified, warranted further investigation and was not intended for public consumption.
However, the contents of the dossier were leaked in January 2017, just as Mr Trump was due to take office.
There is no evidence that the video Mr. Steele describes exists. He defended his research in October 2021, claiming the tape “probably exists” but is being withheld from the Russian government.
Elsewhere in his speech in Iowa on Saturday, Trump celebrated his victory in a Colorado election case that sought to remove him from the state's primary ballot.
A judge rejected the impeachment effort on Friday, concluding that Trump had engaged in sedition during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, but it was unclear whether a Civil War-era constitutional amendment barring rioters from public offices applied to the presidency. It was Trump's latest victory after rulings in similar cases in Minnesota and Michigan.
Mr Trump called the decision “a giant judicial victory” as he called it “an outrageous attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters by throwing us off the ballot”.
“Our opponents show every day that they hate democracy,” he told a crowd of about 2,000 at a public engagement event at a Fort Dodge high school.
Mr Trump roused the crowd two months out from the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, drawing thunderous applause as he asked: “Will you please make me look good? That's the least you can do.”
By the Independent Josh Marcus and Associated Press contributed to this report
