Donald Trump has made a rare half-apology after being caught on a hot mic making lewd comments about trying to have sex with women. This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago," Trump said in a statement released minutes after The Washington Post published audio of the Republican presidential nominee making explicit comments about women.
"[Former President] Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course not even close," Trump added. "I apologize if anyone was offended."
In the leaked audio, apparently recorded while Trump was on a bus with former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, Trump talks about trying and failing to have sex with an unnamed woman. He had been married to his wife Melania for a few months at the time of the conversation.
I did try and f--k her. She was married, Trump says, according to the audio published by the Post.
And I moved on her very heavily," he says. "In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, Ill show you where they have some nice furniture.
I moved on her like a b---h, but I couldnt get there. And she was married, Trump says. Then all of a sudden I see her, shes now got the big phony tits and everything. Shes totally changed her look.
At another point in the recording, Trump is heard saying that "when you're a star," women let you "do anything."
Grab them by the p---y, he says.
The leaked audio couldn't come at a worse time for Trump, who is trying to recover from a disappointing presidential debate performance, during which Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton needled him for making derogatory comments about a former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado.
Trump doubled down after the controversy, saying Machado had gained too much weight and incorrectly alleging that she had participated in a sex video.