Donald
Trump forced into apology over boasts of sexually preying on women
Republicans
line up to condemn presidential nominee as lewd bragging about using
ame
for sexual advances horrifies allies and opponents alike
Ben
Jacobs and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington andScott
Bixby in New York
Saturday 8 October
2016 05.22 BST
Donald Trump was hit
by an outraged backlash from allies and opponents alike after a tape
emerged of the Republican candidate bragging about using his fame to
try and “fuck” women and groping them without waiting for their
consent.
“When you’re a
star they let you do it,” Trump says in the recording, which was
obtained by the Washington Post and released on Friday. “You can do
anything.”
Trump, in a 2005
conversation with a television host that was caught on a live
microphone, describes a failed seduction, saying: “I did try and
fuck her, she was married,” and says that when he meets beautiful
women he feels able to “grab them by the pussy”.
“You can do
anything,” he tells Billy Bush, the TV host who is a first cousin
of former Trump rival Jeb Bush and former president George W Bush,
and nephew of former president George HW Bush.
On Friday night,
amid a storm of condemnation and disavowals by other Republicans,
Trump released a video statement in which he made an almost
unprecedented apology.
“Anyone who knows
me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it. I am wrong.
I apologize.
“I’ve never said
I am a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I am not.
I’ve said and done things I regret and the words released today on
this more than decade-old video are one of them.”
But he then went on
the offensive. “I’ve said some foolish things but there is a big
difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill
Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked,
shamed and intimidated his victims.
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“We will discuss
this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.”
Earlier on Friday,
Trump had dismissed the conversation as “locker room banter” and
said former president Bill Clinton “has said far worse to me on the
golf course – not even close”. “I apologize if anyone was
offended,” he said.
Hillary Clinton, the
Democratic candidate for president, said via Twitter: “This is
horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president.”
Meanwhile the list
of Republicans either distancing themselves from Trump or explicitly
disavowing him was growing.
Trump had been
scheduled to appear with the House speaker, Paul Ryan, at a
Republican event in Wisconsin on Saturday, his first appearance on
the campaign trail with the most powerful elected Republican
official. But Ryan said late Friday that Trump would no longer be in
attendance.
Ryan released a
statement on Friday night saying: “I am sickened by what I heard
today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I
hope Mr Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves
and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect
for women than this clip suggests.”
On Friday night
Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the House oversight committee, declared
that he would not vote for Trump. The Utah congressman joined his
state’s governor, Gary Herbert, in abandoning Trump in the
aftermath of his remarks.
An angry Chaffetz
told CNN that he could not face his wife and 15-year-old daughter if
he continued to support Trump. He said Trump had not apologised for
his lewd remarks and had only expressed regret for “getting
caught”.
Mike Coffman, a
congressman from a swing district who has declined to endorse Trump,
actively called on the Republican nominee to drop out . “For the
good of the country, and to give the Republicans a chance of
defeating Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump should step aside.”
Trump earlier on
Friday released a statement saying this his running mate, Mike Pence,
would be “representing me tomorrow in Wisconsin”, while he is in
New York preparing for Sunday’s second presidential debate with
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, New Jersey
governor Chris Christie and Alabama senator Jeff Sessions.
Earlier, Priebus had
issued a statement about Trump’s remarks in the leaked recording,
saying: “No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked
about in this manner. Ever.”
Trump’s remarks
are the latest in a series of statements about women that have sent
him plummeting to near-historic unfavorability ratings with female
voters. A recent poll from the Economist/YouGov showed that 68% of
female voters had either a somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable
view of Trump.
The released audio,
accompanied by a video, was apparently recorded during an interview
with Access Hollywood host Bush in September 2005, eight months after
Trump married the model Melania Knauss, his third wife.
Bush, now a co-host
on NBC’s Today show, apologised later on Friday, saying in a
statement released to Variety he was “embarrassed and ashamed” by
something that “happened 11 years ago” when he “was younger,
less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I’m very sorry.”
Who is Billy Bush:
the man egging on Trump in tape about groping women
Read more
Trump and Bush were
on a bus headed to the set of the soap opera Days of Our Lives, in
which Trump was set to make a cameo. The media obtained by the Post
included audio from inside the bus and video shot after the bus
arrived on set.
At the beginning of
the audio, Trump relays to Bush a past attempt to seduce a married
woman. “I moved on her and I failed – I’ll admit it,” he
says, continuing: “I did try and fuck her, she was married. And I
moved on her very heavily.
“In fact, I took
her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said:
‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’ I moved on
her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married.
Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phoney tits
and everything. She’s totally changed her look.”
Trump and Bush then
apparently see actress Arianne Zucker outside the bus. “Your girl’s
hot as shit, in the purple,” Bush says.
“Whoa!” Trump
responds. “Whoa! I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I
start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to
beautiful. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just
kiss. I don’t even wait.”
“Whatever you
want,” Bush replies.
“Grab them by the
pussy,” Trump replies. “You can do anything.”
After commenting on
the legs of a woman walking near the bus, Bush and Trump then emerge
in view of the Access Hollywood cameras, to greet Zucker.
Throughout the
presidential campaign, Trump has made controversial statements about
women or had previous remarks brought to light by opponents. In last
month’s first presidential debate, he came under attack from
Hillary Clinton for calling a Venezuelan winner of the Miss Universe
competition “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping”. In
response, Trump used Twitter to falsely claim that the woman in
question, Alicia Machado, had made a sex tape.
In August 2015,
Trump insinuated that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked him tough
questions in the first primary debate because she was menstruating.
He also attacked a rival, Carly Fiorina, for being unattractive.
In March 2016, he
tweeted: “The media is so after me on women[.] Wow, this is a tough
business. Nobody has more respect for women than Donald Trump!”
A number of Trump
campaign members, however, have problematic histories with women. One
adviser, former Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes, was this year
forced to step down from the network after reports of sexual
harassment allegations spanning decades. Trump’s campaign chief,
Steve Bannon, faced domestic violence charges in 1996.
On Friday, websites
reported that when news of the 2005 recording broke, Trump running
mate Mike Pence – who was eating a chili dog with his daughter at a
campaign stop in Toledo, Ohio – abruptly dropped the pool of
reporters who were following him, thereby avoiding any questions on
the matter.
The Pence campaign
team did not respond to a request for comment.
Ted Cruz, the Texas
senator who finished second in the primary and who recently, having
attacked Trump fiercely over his character, endorsed the businessman,
wrote on Twitter late Friday: “These comments are disturbing and
inappropriate, there is simply no excuse for them.”
Florida senator
Marco Rubio, who also ran for president and subsequently endorsed
Trump, joined others in criticizing the remarks: “Donald’s
comments were vulgar, egregious & impossible to justify.”
As Democrats
escalated pressure to disavow Trump, other prominent Republicans
issued statements condemning the remarks, in addition to Ryan. .
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said late Friday that Trump’s
comments were “repugnant, and unacceptable in any circumstance”
and that he believed “Trump needs to apologize directly to women
and girls everywhere”.
Meanwhile,
Republican senators facing tough re-election battles – including
John McCain of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Kelly Ayotte of New
Hampshire – issued statements condemning the remarks, but did not
withdraw their support.
McCain said in a
short statement: “He alone bears the burden of his conduct and
alone should suffer the consequences.”
But Republican
governor Gary Herbert of Utah did rescind his endorsement. “Donald
Trump’s statements are beyond offensive & despicable,” he
tweeted. While I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton, I will not vote for
Trump. #utpol”
The Illinois senator
Mark Kirk, who has vowed not to support Trump, went further, saying
on Twitter that Trump “should drop out” and the Republican party
“should engage rules for emergency replacement.”
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