Donald Trump during a meeting with his former agent, Ari Emanuel. Image by Getty Images

By Lilly Maier December 19, 2016

Donald Trump during a meeting with his former agent, Ari Emanuel. Image by Getty Images

Emanuel was an outspoken supporter and fundraiser for Barack Obama and his brother Rahm served in Obama’s administration before becoming mayor of Chicago.

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But the powerful Hollywood agent was also close with Trump and represented him in negotiations surrounding NBC’s ‘The Apprentice’.

In 2015, Emanuel bought the Miss Universe Organization from his former client, including its audio and video archives. Emanuel refused requests by high-ranking Democrats to open up the archives or even look for tapes himself in the days leading up to the election, sources told the Daily Beast.

In October, the Associated Press reported that Trump used lewd language on the set of The Apprentice, which resulted in the discovery of the hot-mic “Access Hollywood” tape. Ever since then, people have been looking for similar tapes from Trump’s time owning the Miss Universe Organization (which also owns the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants.)

The Daily Beast reported that the show’s archive contains audio and video recordings that might be as damaging as the “Access Hollywood” tapes.

In addition to stonewalling inquiries into the archive, Emanuel also broke from his past vocal support and financial contributions he made to the Democrats. This year, he was silent in the general election.

Lilly Maier is a news intern at the Forward. Reach her at maier@forward.com or on Twitter at @lillymmaier

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