Trump Tells Rally He 'Examined' GOP Senator's A**, Feet, Hands and Jaw: 'I Never Did That With a Man Before'

Donald Trump told a Kentucky rally that he had inspected Ohio Senator Jon Husted's backside, shoulders, hands, feet and jawline on stage.

Speaking at Northern Kentucky University on Saturday 17 October 2026, the president recalled sizing up Husted at an earlier event and joked: 'I never did that with a man before.' He said Husted's shoulder felt 'like a piece of steel' and that his own hand was 'still recovering'.

A clip of the remarks had drawn more than a million views on X when checked on Sunday.

'I Examined His Ass' Sparks Viral Clip

The moment came at Truist Arena in Highland Heights, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, where Trump was campaigning for Kentucky Republicans and introduced Husted to the crowd, The Advocate reported.

'I stood right over here and I examined his ass. I never did that. No, I never did that with a man before. I examined his ass... My hand is still recovering,' Trump said, in a clip posted by the commentator Acyn. The post had been viewed more than a million times, liked about 4,900 times and reposted more than 1,000 times when checked on Sunday.

Trump said he had also studied Husted's shoulders, feet, hands and jawline. Of the jaw, he said: 'You would be very unfortunate if you picked a fight with him at a bar someday.' Patting Husted's shoulder, he said, was 'like a piece of steel.' A White House pool report recorded the president also calling Husted a 'good-looking guy.'

Trump was describing an inspection he said took place when he first brought Husted on stage at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on 12 October, according to The Advocate.

That speech had already raised eyebrows. At the Covelli Centre, Trump said he had looked at Husted's backside after learning he had been a standout athlete. 'Look at his hands. He's got, like, claws,' he said, before asking the senator to stand.

'Look at that jawline, I'm telling you.' Newsmax host Rob Schmitt, covering the rally live, appeared taken aback, and told viewers: 'We'll never know what the president's talking about there.'

Football Claims Behind Trump's Remarks

The episode began, Trump said, with a conversation with the former NFL coach Jon Gruden, who, like Husted, played football at the University of Dayton. Gruden has endorsed Husted and introduced Trump at the Youngstown rally.

Trump said Gruden had told him Husted was 'an absolutely unbelievable football player', the Tampa Free Press reported. According to Trump's account, Gruden described Husted as an All-American who held a record of 17 interceptions. Those details come from Trump's recollection of the conversation; reports differ on Husted's playing position, and the interception record has not been independently confirmed.

Trump contrasted Husted's modesty with his own instincts. He said he 'would have bragged' about such a record, but that Husted 'doesn't brag about it.'

He then credited the attention for a polling bump, claiming Husted had gained 'nine or 10 points' since the Youngstown rally. He did not identify a poll or explain the basis for the figure.

Earlier surveys showed Brown ahead: a Marist University survey conducted from 24 to 27 September put Brown on 51 per cent and Husted on 43 per cent among registered voters, while a Suffolk University/USA Today poll gave Brown about 47 per cent to Husted's 44 per cent, within its margin of error, NBC4 reported.

Both surveys were conducted before the rallies, so they cannot confirm or rule out the increase Trump described.

High-Stakes Ohio Senate Contest

Husted, 59, previously served as Ohio's secretary of state and then as lieutenant governor under DeWine. He was appointed to the Senate in January 2025 by Governor Mike DeWine to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president.

He now faces former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown on 3 November in a special election for the remainder of Vance's term, one of the most closely watched contests of the midterms.

Brown, who lost his own Senate seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024, is attempting a comeback in a contest Democrats are targeting as a possible pick-up. Neither the Advocate's nor the Daily Beast's reports included a response from Husted's campaign.

Elsewhere in the speech, Trump, 80, praised Kentucky Senate nominee Andy Barr, who is running for the seat being vacated by the retiring Mitch McConnell, and congressional candidate Ed Gallrein. Gallrein, a Trump-backed former Navy SEAL, defeated Representative Thomas Massie, a frequent Trump critic, in the Republican primary. 'In this election, I'm asking you to pretend I'm on the ballot,' Trump told the crowd.

Outlets including The Advocate, PinkNews and the Daily Beast covered the comments.

It was not the only time this week that Trump dwelt on a male ally's appearance. At a rally in Dalton, Georgia, on Friday, he called Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson a 'very handsome, distinguished, beautiful-looking guy'.

Ohio voters will decide on 3 November whether Husted keeps the seat he was appointed to last year.