Access Hollywood host says US President Donald Trump’s 2005 video is not fake

This AFP file photo taken on January 19, 2015 shows Donald Trump (R) before he launched his presidential campaign as he is interviewed by Billy Bush of Access Hollywood at Trump Tower in New York City.

Several hosts from the Access Hollywood show have disputed US President Donald Trump's claim that the 2005 tape where he boasted about sexually assaulting women was fake.

Trump was recorded during a taping for a 2005 Access Hollywoodsegment bragging about his ability to grope women because he's "a star." According to The New York Times, Trump has expressed doubt about the authenticity of the video.

In the hours after the video was revealed in October 2016, then-candidate Trump acknowledged he made the lewd comments and apologized.

At least two dozen women have come forward since the video was released, accusing Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior.

“We wanted to clear something up that has been reported across the media landscape,” Access Hollywood host Natalie Morales said on air on Monday.  

“Let us make this perfectly clear - the tape is very real... Remember his excuse at the time was 'locker-room talk.' He said every one of those words," Morales said.

Arianne Zucker, one of the women filmed in the tape, has also reiterated she doesn't see how the tape could be fake.

"I do know that I was there working and doing my job... I don't know how else that could be fake, unless someone's planting words in your mouth," she told CNN.

"How do you apologize for something and then renege on it," she added.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday the president stands by his original apology for his remarks recorded by the infamous video.

Sanders also said that Trump’s position hasn't changed in the days after The New York Times reported the president had privately questioned the tape's authenticity.

"The president hasn't changed his position," she added. "I think if anything, what the president questions is the media's reporting on that accurately."

The scandal provoked strong reactions at the time by media figures and politicians across the political spectrum, with several dozen Republicans calling on Trump to withdraw from last year’s election campaign.

 Trump's "Access Hollywood" video is under renewed scrutiny as sexual harassment allegations against powerful men in a variety of industries continue to emerge, including those made against Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.

One woman alleges Moore touched her inappropriately when she was 14. Another woman has accused Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was 16. Moore has repeatedly denied the allegations.