Kellyanne Conway: Trump mulled quitting the 2016 presidential race after ‘Access Hollywood’ tape was released

Donald Trump considered dropping out of the 2016 presidential race due to fallout from the Access Hollywood tape where he can be heard talking about being able to “grab [women] by the p***y,” a new book excerpt from Kellyanne Conway revealed on Sunday.

Then-candidate Trump was reportedly worried the Republican Party “could force him off the ticket or hold a vote to expel him” over the embarrassing tape, leaked roughly a month before Election Day.

Conway, who was formerly Trump’s campaign manager and later the president’s senior counselor, made the claim in her new memoir “Here’s the Deal.”

The Daily Beast reported that, in the book, Conway wrote that she and Trump huddled in Trump Tower on the night of October 8, 2016, to discuss the future of his candidacy.

“Should I get out [of the race]?” Trump asked Conway, according to the book, per the Daily Beast. Conway said she thought Trump was either testing her or second-guessing himself, the Daily Beast reported. “You actually can’t,” she quotes herself saying, per the media outlet. “Unless you want to forfeit and throw the whole damn thing to Hillary.”

According to the book, Trump reportedly replied to Conway: “What do you mean I can’t?” Conway said that she responded: “I know you don’t like to lose, but I also know you don’t like to quit.” She claims she then reassured him he would win, but told him that his comments were “disgusting” and “reprehensible,” per the Daily Beast. 

Insider previously reported that Trump took two hours to summon the courage to face his wife, Melania Trump.

When the tape was played to Trump’s 2016 campaign team, he appeared “frightened” to see her, a source told “The Art of Her Deal” by author Mary Jordan, per CBS News.

Insider reached out to Trump’s post-presidency office on Saturday morning but did not immediately receive a response.