Thread by @MattNegrin

Today is the six-year anniversary of the Access Hollywood “pussy" tape. As I do every year, I will be live-tweeting the events of that day as they occurred.

It was a beautiful, crisp autumn day. Not a cloud in the sky. It was one month until voting day for the 2016 election. It was a normal Friday. I was traveling with the President of the United States.

The President was scheduled to speak at a factory. We were in the Beast — the term for the SUV that carries the POTUS in the traveling motorcade. We were listening to All Things Considered on the radio. "Nothing unusual will happen today, right?" POTUS asked me. "Yes" I replied

Just as we were arriving at the factory the voice of saxophonist and NPR news host Donny McCaslin broke in on the radio. "We have breaking news," McCaslin said. "The Washington Post has published a video of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making lewd comments."

"Is that Donny McCaslin?" POTUS asked
"Yes," I said
"He only breaks in when it's serious," POTUS said
"I know that. I'm not an idiot," I said
"Well I'm saying this is serious, turn it up," POTUS said
I turned up the volume as Donny McCaslin described who Billy Bush was

"Special Report With Donny McCaslin has not verified the authenticity of this recording," Donny McCaslin said. "Nonetheless we are airing it because of its implications in the presidential race."

POTUS took a deep breath.
I took a deep breath.
Donny McCaslin took a deep breath.

POTUS and I listened as Donald Trump talked to Billy Bush about a woman he "did try and fuck." He said he "moved on her like a bitch."

POTUS asked "What does that mean?"

I said "I have no idea."

The recording continued. "Big phony tits." "I just start kissing them."

The audio was clear. "When you're a star they let you do it," Trump said.

Billy Bush: "Whatever you want."

Then Trump said the magic words. "Grab them by the pussy," he said.

POTUS looked at me. "The world is never going to be the same," he said.

POTUS listened intently. The recording finished after a few minutes. "Play it back," POTUS said.

"I can't do that," I said. "It's the radio."

"Yes sir," Donny McCaslin said on the radio. And he played the recording back. POTUS looked at me as if saying "told you so"

"It's time to go into the factory," I said as POTUS listened to the tape for a fifth time. It had been 25 minutes of us sitting in the Beast, idling. POTUS had now memorized the first 2 minutes of the audio, word for word. His favorite part was "Come on shorty" (Bush line)

Now POTUS was making me be Donald Trump, and he was Billy Bush. And if I messed up a line POTUS would say "start over" and Donny McCaslin would start the recording over from the NPR studio in Washington. "Think about the word that comes next before you say it," POTUS instructed

POTUS called his friend and adviser David Axelrod, who had remained at the White House as designated survivor. "David, you play Unknown Male," POTUS said. "Yes sir," David said as we put him on speaker. "Really believe the role," POTUS said. He was into it. This was peak POTUS.

Calm, cool, collected. I watched as POTUS choreographed a delicate dance as the three of us recited the lines verbatim as they played on the audio. He was smiling, the way he did in 2008. It felt good to see him like this. We missed him. "Oh that's good legs," POTUS lip-synced.

After the performance POTUS lit a cigarette, his 10th of the day. "That was fucking incredible," POTUS said. "Are those people still in the factory?"
"They're about to get off for the day," I said, knowing how factory shifts work
"Let's go give the people what they want," he said

POTUS and I walked through the door to the factory as the head factory worker saluted. "Keep David on speaker," POTUS instructed. "We're going to address the people of this nation so we never forget what happened today." I felt like I had ants in my pants.

We walked onto the factory floor just as Reverend Wright was finishing the end of his two-hour introduction. "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States," he said.

"Let's go," POTUS said to me. And we walked up to the podium, bearing the Presidential seal

The cheers were deafening. POTUS stepped up to the mic. But I grabbed his sleeve. "Use this," I said, and handed him a megaphone

POTUS held the megaphone up to his mouth. I held my BlackBerry with David Axelrod on speaker phone up to the mic. The crowd fell silent. POTUS looked at me. "Now," I said to David Axelrod.

"She used to be great, she's still very beautiful," David said on the phone

The crowd cheered. It was a hit. My line was next.

"I moved on her actually," I said. "You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and fuck her, she was married."

David Axelrod: "That's huge news there."

I nailed the next line, a long one. The practice had paid off. POTUS grinned. He leaned into the megaphone and shouted to the crowd:

"Your girl's hot as shit. In the purple."

The crowd erupted.

POTUS: "Yes! The Donald has scored! Whoa, my man!"

The room exploded in cheers.

Our performance was flawless. The best laugh from the crowd came when I said as Trump, "It's always good if you don't fall out of the bus. Like Ford, Gerald Ford, remember?"

And POTUS, as Billy Bush, deadpanned: "Down below, pull the handle." Off to the side Josh Earnest cackled

We finished the lines and the factory workers stood up and applauded. It was the largest standing ovation POTUS would ever receive. He leaned down and said to me, "This isn't about us. It's about these people here today." He was right.

POTUS spent a few minutes shaking hands with the factory. As we climbed back into the Beast, Kal Penn, the Beast driver, said, “Mr. President, you changed history today.” POTUS shook his hand and said “thanks my guy.” We put our seatbelts on. “Who was that?” POTUS asked me

We rolled onto the highway. “The calls are already coming in,” I told POTUS. Everyone wanted to interview him about what he had just done. “MSNBC wants to know if you can do a live hit right now.”
“Holy shit,” POTUS said. “That’s huge.”
He was right.

We did 600 interviews from the Beast that afternoon. POTUS relished every single one. “This is the best part of my job,” he told me in between an interview with the Toronto Star and a separate interview with thestar.com, the online news version of the Toronto Star

When we got back to the White House, POTUS was energized. The news should have been all about Trump and the tape, but instead it was wall-to-wall coverage of POTUS's performance at the factory. "Let's do something crazy," POTUS said as we pulled up. "Let's close Guantanamo Bay"

POTUS skimmed the news on his BlackBerry as he walked into the East Wing. "Another day, another dollar," he said to himself. I wrote it down in my notebook, knowing that would be a phrase that defined his presidency. Sure enough, it was the title of his memoir two years later

It had been a historic day. POTUS retired to the residence. I walked to my office and collapsed in my chair. What had happened, happened. Tomorrow would be the first day in a new world.

I turned on the evening news. "This is Donny McCaslin," the anchor said. "Let's do the news."