Tom Arnold Says He Has Video of Trump “Using the N-Word, Using the C-Word”

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Here’s a story I’d kind of like to believe:

Actor Tom Arnold is making waves with recent claims that he has outtakes from “The Apprentice” that feature President-elect Donald Trump using inflammatory language….”When the people sent it to me, it was funny,” Arnold said, explaining that hundreds of people have seen the footage that was sent around years ago as a Christmas video.

“He wasn’t going to be president of the United States. It was him sitting in that chair using the N-word, using the C-word, calling his son [intellectually disabled],” Arnold said.

….”If that had gotten released, it absolutely would have finished him,” [Dori] Monson told Arnold. Arnold disagreed. “I think if the people that like him saw him saying the N-word, matter-of-factly saying this stuff, I think they would have liked him more for being politically incorrect,” said Arnold.

Arnold says that the folks who originally made the video got cold feet when they were asked to release it during the campaign: “They were scared of his people. They’re scared they’ll never work again,” said Arnold. “There’s a $5-million confidentiality agreement.”

OK, sure, but if it was sent around as a Christmas video and hundreds of people have seen it, it’s hard to believe that one of those hundreds didn’t quietly leak it. This is Hollywood, after all, and I think we can assume that 90 percent of the folks on the distribution list were Hillary supporters. And surely at least a few dozen happened to keep their copy lying around.

So call me skeptical. But on the off chance it’s for real, let’s get it out there! Surely there’s some Democratic billionaire who will promise to make good on any settlement if Trump sues.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

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