Donald Trump has defended repeatedly talking about Jon Husted's rear end during campaign stops, saying his remarks made the Republican Senate candidate look more "interesting" and gave him a badly-needed boost.
Trump's comments on Husted's physique
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Trump stood by his remarks, telling aides that chatting about Husted's rear end helped the candidate with voters. A source claimed the president felt he "did more in 30 rallies to promote some of the candidates than the candidates did to promote themselves."
Trump's comments were on display during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 12, where he admitted to giving the former college football player a thorough once-over. He told the crowd: "I looked and I watched up and down. I watched his ass and I looked at the whole - and then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands, he's got these, like, claws."
"And I got it. You are a great athlete. I didn't know that because he doesn't talk about that. Congratulations, now they finally know. That was very good."
Husted's Senate bid and midterm loss
Husted was thrust into the national spotlight when Ohio Governor Mike DeWine handed him JD Vance's old Senate seat on an interim basis after Vance became vice president. However, Husted's bid to win the seat failed at the midterms when he was beaten by Democrat Sherrod Brown.
At a Michigan rally weeks later, where Trump also complimented rapper Nicki Minaj's rear end, he hit back at critics who mocked his fascination. He said: "The press went crazy the next day. They said, 'What’s with Trump? All he wants to do is talk about a man's ass.'"
"They didn't explain the whole football deal. That's why with the fake news, you cannot do that stuff. You have to go right down the middle."
Blame for Republican losses
When asked about the behind-the-scenes comments, representatives pointed back to Trump's post-midterm press conference. Rather than blaming his remarks for the ballot-box defeat, Trump laid the blame elsewhere, saying it was "largely true" that the war in Iran was the real reason Republicans lost.
