Tom Arnold’s “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes” aired an episode Tuesday dedicated to a Trump “Elevator Tape” — even though there’s no proof such a tape exists.
Arnold, who cheerfully admits he has no credibility, told us on the “Shoot This Now” podcast that he’s turned over what he’s learned about the reputed tape to a “real journalist.” You can listen to it on Apple or right here.
There’s just one problem with Arnold telling a real journalist what he knows: As you’ll hear on our podcast, he’s very cagey about what, if anything, he conclusively knows.
And “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes” ended its season Tuesday night without revealing any Trump tapes.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Arnold’s show, which aired three episodes back-to-back Tuesday, is dedicated to tapes that have never been proven to exist, but the elevator tape may be the most elusive of all. One White House reporter has called it “every Trump reporter’s White Whale.”
Arnold is far from the only one who can’t prove the existence of a so-called “Elevator Tape.” A mention of some sort of Trump elevator video first surfaced in May in a Daily Beast article that detailed TMZ’s efforts to acquire it. The story said the Daily Beast had “no proof” the tape exists.
Since then, other news outlets have attempted legalistic write-arounds to explain what is said to be on the tape — if there is a tape. Here’s an example from July, in The Huffington Post:
The rumors vary from journalist to journalist, but the common understanding is that somewhere out there, a tape might exist of Trump doing something in an elevator, though exactly where that somewhere is and what that something might be, no one in media can say. That’s because no one in media seems to have seen the tape — or is even confident it exists.
The same article includes the May tweet in which CNBC White House reporter Christine Wilkie opined: “The elevator tape. Every Trump reporter’s White Whale.”
On Viceland’s “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes” on Tuesday, one HuffPo journalist, Ashley Feinberg, goes into much greater detail about what “this anonymous person with a throwaway Gmail account” told the Huffington Post’s reporters about the tape — again, without offering any proof of its existence.
The Daily Beast reported in May — and TMZ attorney Jason Beckerman confirmed to TheWrap on Tuesday — that before Election Day in 2016, an attorney reached out to TMZ, saying she represented a client who had an elevator tape of Donald and Melania Trump.
Though TMZ was ready to buy it, Beckerman told TheWrap, the lawyer canceled a planned meeting at the last minute.
“I got the impression that what she was conveying to me was that her source had sold the tape without her involvement and that she was no longer in communication with the client,” Beckerman said.
He stressed: “We never saw the tape, and we have no reason to believe that the tape ever existed.”
The Daily Beast reported in May that the attorney was Beverly Hills lawyer Melissa K. Dagodag. Asked about any elevator tape on Tuesday, Dagodag told TheWrap: “There’s nothing I have to say about that. It’s a wild-goose chase… and it’s attorney-client privilege even if I did have something to say.”
A spokesman for Viceland said the show was thoroughly vetted, legally, before airing.
In our “Shoot This Now” interview with Arnold, we suggested to Arnold that many people will say that if he’s seen the elevator tape, he should provide proof.
“I don’t care what they say,” he said. “I don’t care what they say, at all.”
We pressed Arnold on the fact that the existence of a damaging elevator tape would be major news.
“I gave it to a real journalist,” Arnold said.
We then asked why he didn’t use an app like Signal, which provides added security to sources who want to contact journalists, to contact a reporter and get the tape to the public.
“What makes you think I didn’t?” Arnold said.
Arnold stresses on his show that he does not consider himself a true journalist. In his season finale, he explicitly states, “I don’t have to worry about my credibility, because I have none.”
But past episodes of his show have included real journalists, including New Yorker writer Jane Mayer, and DavidCorn, the Mother Jones writer who in 2012 broke news of the Mitt Romney “47 percent” video, which hurt Romney’s chances of beating President Obama. Arnold said he has also spoken to Mayer’s New Yorker colleague, Ronan Farrow.
Neither Corn nor the New Yorker immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
Kathy Griffin's Biggest Feuds, From Donald Trump to Barbara Walters (Photos)
You don't get to the top of the D-list without picking a few fights first. Kathy Griffin is both adored and reviled for her outspokenness and provocative comedy. Along with her vocal dislike of President Trump -- as exemplified by an infamous photo of her posing with the likeness of his decapitated head -- she's had it out with many in the GOP and media. Here are some of the biggest feuds in which Griffin has engaged -- some of which date back to before the Trump incident.
In the wake of the Les Moonves sexual misconduct scandal at CBS, Griffin wrote a Twitter thread directed at Moonves' wife Julie Chen. Griffin said she would love to be a guest on Chen's show but changed her mind after hearing from her own acquaintances "how Julie has treated people." She then revealed she sent Chen a text saying, "F--- you and your misogynistic husband. You two deserve each other." Griffin went on to report she heard Moonves would not consider a woman to replace Craig Ferguson for "The Late Late Show" hosting gig.
Griffin gave a blunt response when she received an interview request from Tomi Lahren's people at Fox News. "Go f--- yourself." Griffin shared a screencap of an email she received from the right-wing firebrand's people and captioned it, "You and your network told me my career was over and that I was irrelevant. Now you want to interview me." Lahren responded in fashion, giving a taste at what would've surely been a fiery interview if it ever happened. "Thought maybe you'd like to discuss your Trump Derangement Syndrome on the most-watched cabe news network. Guess not! Have a nice day!"
Griffin fumed when she learned that Louis C.K. attempted to make his comeback by performing a brief stand-up set back in August. "You know how many talented women and POC comics are knocking on doors trying to get some time in front of audiences or powerful people in this business?" Griffin wrote in the first of five tweets. "And Louis just gets to glide back in on his own terms? Gosh, does it payoff to be in the boys club..the white boys club."
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Donald Trump:
By far her most infamous feud, Griffin's career was put on pause when she posed in a photo and video holding the likeness of President Donald Trump's bloody, decapitated head. The fallout was swift, with Griffin losing her spot on CNN, among many other jobs. Griffin apologized, but later took back the apology in a rant condemning Trump's family on "The View." Trump appeared to continue the feud as Griffin said she'd been detained at every international airport she'd visited since posting the photo. "The shows were cancelled because the President of the United States and his family were offended by an image I released and decided to unleash an army on me," she said.
Griffin's face has appeared in numerous GOP campaign ads as a symbol of the liberal Hollywood resistance against Trump. NRATV, the National Rifle Association's media arm, used footage of Griffin to misleadingly suggest she had adopted Trump's "Build the Wall" policy on immigration. Griffin took notice and called the network "stupid and embarrassing."
Sarah Huckabee Sanders invoked Kathy Griffin's name when asked about the cancellation of "Roseanne" and the president's response to the news. "Where was the apology for Kathy Griffin going on a profane rant against the president on 'The View' after a photo showed her holding President Trump's decapitated head," Sanders said during a White House press briefing. Griffin pushed back hard. "B---, do not come for me. I did not call you," Griffin wrote in a tweet containing a snippet of the briefing that mentioned her. "And for f---'s sake, take a cold reading class, maybe you won't stumble so much."
The Donald isn't the only Trump who Griffin has feuded with. Griffin took a swipe at Melania Trump's #BeBest anti-bullying campaign when Melania called Griffin's decapitation photo "very disturbing." "#BeBest - When your husband is an erratic whack job who tweets crazy s--- and actually puts the country in danger and you take the time as First Lady to question a photo of a comic holding a halloween mask and ketchup."
Griffin has railed on Harvey Levin and TMZ on several occasions. In the wake of her decapitation photo fallout, she accused Levin of being in bed with Trump. "They have done hit pieces on me to the point where it's actually affected my career," she said. "Harvey Levin, have you ever done anything honorable, ever?" She also criticized the outlet for their coverage of how fellow comedian Lisa Lampanelli combatted a heckler at a show. TMZ referred to the incident as a "nuclear meltdown," and Griffin said this was indicative of how TMZ treated all women and people of color in their coverage.
Andy Cohen was tapped to replace Kathy Griffin in her CNN New Year's co-hosting gig, but the two also traded jabs in 2017. Cohen was Griffin's boss at Bravo while her show "My Life on the D-List" was on the air, and she's appeared on his talk show twice, but in an interview he repeatedly pretended he didn't know her. Griffin called him "deeply misogynistic" in response. She later escalated the feud by saying Cohen twice offered her cocaine before appearing on the show (Cohen denied it) and by sharing a text from someone who had been in a relationship with Cohen. Cohen "is a small guy, not just in height," the message read, taking a jab at his manhood.
Kathy Griffin and Joan Rivers were very close, even though they disagreed politically. But that mutual respect didn't transfer over between Griffin and Rivers's daughter Melissa. Griffin was chosen to replace Rivers on the E! show "Fashion Police" after her death, but then quickly departed. Melissa Rivers eventually responded by saying that Griffin had "s--- all over" her mother's legacy. "By calling the comedy and the style of it old-fashioned. It was like, I understand what you were doing, you’re trying to save yourself, but don’t crap all over my mother to do it,” Rivers said.
On "Seinfeld," Griffin played an up-and-coming comedian named Sally who got her big break by making fun of Jerry on stage. The two comics had another feud in real life, though it was all in good fun. Griffin said that after she had poked fun at Seinfeld in a routine, Seinfeld sent her a package and letter as a prank that she said gave her "instant diarrhea." "I mean, I made it to the bathroom, but just barely,” Griffin joked.
Griffin has been banned from several talk shows, but her most prominent would be a lifetime ban from "The View," which she once guest hosted. In her stand-up routine, Griffin joked that Howard Stern had wanted to have sex with host Barbara Walters, which led to her being barred from the show. "She will cut a b---," Griffin joked on Conan.
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Comedian of ”My Life on the D-List“ has earned the ire of many in media and GOP
You don't get to the top of the D-list without picking a few fights first. Kathy Griffin is both adored and reviled for her outspokenness and provocative comedy. Along with her vocal dislike of President Trump -- as exemplified by an infamous photo of her posing with the likeness of his decapitated head -- she's had it out with many in the GOP and media. Here are some of the biggest feuds in which Griffin has engaged -- some of which date back to before the Trump incident.
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