In August 2025, an old rumor recirculated online that U.S. President Donald Trump once (before entering politics) spoke positively about statutory rape, citing an incident in which a 14-year-old boy had sexual relations with his 23-year-old teacher. Trump purportedly questioned whether the boy was actually "scarred forever," suggesting the experience "might have given him confidence, actually."
Users on social media platforms such as X (archived) and Instagram (archived) shared a purported audio recording of Trump making the comments on a radio program. The rumor gained steam as public demand grew for the release of the purported client list of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose relationship with Trump has long been scrutinized.
We have opted not to rate the authenticity of the recording because we were unable to locate the primary source for the audio being shared in the social media posts. However credible media outlets have previously reported on it, and Trump has made similar comments that can be authenticated.
The audio appears to have first surfaced in a 2016 episode of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," which posted a clip of the segment on the network's Facebook page (archived) on Sept. 29, 2016, captioned, "The Daily Show dug up yet another example of Donald Trump's sexism."
The episode, which aired during the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, centered on Trump's history of comments about women after he came under fire for allegedly calling a Miss USA contestant "Miss Piggy." The comedy news show reported that the clip was from the Dec. 2, 2004, episode of the long-running radio show "Imus in the Morning," hosted by Don Imus.
In the purported clip, Imus and Trump discussed a news story about Florida teacher Debra Lafave, who was arrested after authorities discovered she was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.
Their exchange began with Trump asking, "How would you like to be the husband of the wife that was, you know, playing around with a 14-year-old kid? Unbelievable." Trump then commented on Lafave's attractiveness, asking, "By the way, did you see what she looked like?"
Imus replied, "Not bad," to which Trump said, "Not bad? Yeah, I'd say so. I know a lot of guys who are trying to date her right now, Don."
When Imus asked what Trump's teachers looked like, Trump said:
None of them looked like that, believe me. […] So do you think this 14-year-old kid is scarred forever? He might have put the move on her. […] It might have given him confidence, actually.
We could not independently verify the specific "Imus in the Morning" clip, as clips of the show on Imus' official website dated back only to 2010, while the Internet Archive featured episodes back to 2008. A search on YouTube did not reveal any "Imus in the Morning" episodes from 2004.
Imus died in 2019, and we could not locate any contact information for his family or anyone who may have access to his show archives. We reached out to Audacy, the parent company of WFAN — the station that broadcast "Imus in the Morning" from 1979 to 2007 — in search of the original audio from the Dec. 2, 2004, episode. We also reached out to the White House press office and Comedy Central for comment and further information. We will update this article if we receive a response.
After "The Daily Show" episode aired in 2016, news outlets like Entertainment Weekly, USA Today and The New Zealand Herald covered the segment that featured Trump's comments. At the time, Trump was enduring a barrage of accusations about his treatment of women, such as the release of the 2005 "Access Hollywood" audio recording and a resurfaced 1992 video depicting him making inappropriate comments to young girls.
While we were not able to authenticate the alleged 2004 audio clip, it bears similarities to other appearances by Trump on Imus' show. There are multiple clips on YouTube featuring Trump's appearances on the show throughout the years, including in 2005, 2007, 2012, 2015 and 2016. A YouTube channel titled Radio Rewind also posted a video about a purported feud between Imus and Trump in the late 1980s. It is clear the two men had a rapport and often discussed women, politics and news.
Further, an on-camera interview with entertainment show "Extra" held at the 2012 Miss USA pageant showed Trump making similar statements about a different statutory-rape case. The interviewer asked Trump: "Have you heard about all these teachers having sex with their students? Is this not crazy? What is going on?"
Trump replied with a smirk and a statement that echoed what he purportedly said on Imus' show in 2004:
Well, I don't think the male students have been hurt by it. In fact, they're going around bragging about it as I understand it. So I don't see a lot of damage done, but it's a very unusual situation. I would say her husband cannot be happy.