Trump considered dropping out of 2016 race after Access Hollywood tape emerged, Kellyanne Conway claims

Donald Trump considered dropping out of the 2016 presidential race after the leak of the  notorious Access Hollywood tape, according to Kellyanne Conway’s new memoir.

On the tape, which was released just days before Americans went to the polls, the one-term president was heard boasting about his behaviour towards women.

In a 2005 conversation his TV host Billy Bush, Mr Trump was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women “by the p****, kissing women before they could stop him, and “moving on” a married woman “like a b****.”

“When you’re a star, they let you do anything … I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” Mr Trump was recorded saying on the tape.

Mr Trump has denied he ever considered dropping out of the race against Hillary Clinton, but his campaign adviser writes in her new book that she discussed his candidacy with him in Trump Tower on 8 October.

Ms Conway writes in Here’s The Deal that Mr Trump was concerned that the Republican Party “could force him off the ticket or hold a vote to expel him”, according to an excerpt obtained by Daily Beast.

“Should I get out (of the race)?” he reportedly asked Ms Conway.

“You actually can’t unless you want to forfeit and throw the whole damn thing to Hillary,” she says she told Mr Trump.

“What do you mean I can’t?” Mr Trump reportedly replied.

Ms Conway write that she responded, “I know you don’t like to lose, but I also know you don’t like to quit.”

When the tape was made public, Mr Trump defended is as “locker room banter” and said that Bill Clinton had said worse.