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, ‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’ ”
“I moved on her like a b---h, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married,” Trump says. “Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s 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.