A leaked video from 2005 captured Donald Trump using lewd language discussing women with a television host just before he made a cameo appearance on a soap opera.
On the tape, Trump bragged about kissing and groping women while chatting with "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush. The real estate developer and reality TV star-turned-GOP presidential candidate also used a vulgar anatomical term and discussed trying to have sex with an unidentified, married woman.
"I moved on her and I failed," Trump says. "I’ll admit it ... 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’ve gotta use some tic tacs, just in case I start kissing her," Trump says after seeing the actress Arianne Zucker on the set of the soap opera on which he was to appear. "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."
"And when you're a star they let you do it," Trump continued. "You can do anything."
Trump subsequently issued an apology that simultaneously took aim at his rival's husband.
"This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago," Trump said. "Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."
The remarks were met with widespread condemnation. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus immediately issued a statement saying, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever."
Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, was "beside himself" and Pence's wife was furious, a person familiar with their thinking told the Associated Press. In public, Pence ignored questions shouted by reporters in Rossford, Ohio, where he was campaigning with his daughter.
This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president. https://t.co/RwhW7yeFI2
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 7, 2016
This kind of behavior is disgusting. It makes me sick to my stomach. https://t.co/mOUKgr6axl
— Senator Tim Kaine (@timkaine) October 7, 2016
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., with whom Trump was supposed to appear at an event in the Badger State Saturday, said in a statement that he was "sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified."
Ryan's statement added that "[Trump] is no longer attending tomorrow's event in Wisconsin." Sources told Fox News that Ryan had revoked Trump's invitation to the event.
Trump issued a second statement late Friday saying that Pence would attend the Wisconsin event in Trump's place, while the nominee would stay in New York to prep for Sunday's debate.
The Washington Post and NBC News obtained the tape, which includes audio and some video, and released it Friday afternoon.
New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is locked in a tough re-election fight and this week reversed herself to say Trump was not a good role model for children, said his comments "are totally inappropriate and offensive."
The comments emerged two days before the Republican nominee meets Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for their second presidential debate, and as he confronts a series of past stories about his comments about women and tries to move beyond remarks shaming a former Miss Universe for gaining weight.
Trump was talking with Bush moments before they arrived on the set of "Days of Our Lives" to tape a segment about Trump’s upcoming cameo on the soap opera, according to the Post.
As the bus rolls to a stop, Trump and Bush, apparently looking out at the waiting Zucker, can be heard ogling her.
"Your girl’s hot as s---, in the purple," says Bush, who’s now a co-host of NBC’s "Today" show.
"Whoa!" Trump says. "Whoa!"
In his own statement, Billy Bush said he was "embarrassed and ashamed."
"It's no excuse, but this happened 11 years ago," said Bush. "I was younger, less mature and acted foolishly in playing along. I'm very sorry."
Earlier this week, Trump dismissed questions about his history of vulgarity, telling a television station in Nevada that "a lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment." He added: "And I can tell you this, there's nobody — nobody — that has more respect for women than I do."
Trump is slated to travel Saturday to Wisconsin to campaign at an event with House Speaker Paul Ryan, in what would be their first joint campaign appearance. Several aides to Ryan did not respond to inquiries about whether the Wisconsin Republican still planned to appear with the nominee.
Trump has a long reported history of making lewd and highly sexual comments toward and about women. The Associated Press reported this week that during his years as a reality TV star on the "The Apprentice," the GOP nominee repeatedly demeaned women with sexist language, rating female contestants by the size of their breasts and talking about which ones he'd like to have sex with.
During frequent interviews with shock jock Howard Stern in the 1990s, Trump made a long list of demeaning comments, saying that he could have had sex with Diana, Princess of Wales, who had recently been killed in a car crash, and declaring that "A person who is very flat-chested is very hard to be a 10."
He has repeatedly called the comedian Rosie O'Donnell a "pig" and "slob" and suggested she'd be less depressed if she stopped looking in the mirror. The Los Angeles Times reported last month that managers at Trump's golf club in southern California knew the New York developer only wanted good-looking women on staff.
Trump also bragged in the moments after the first debate and days afterward that he had decided not to bring up Bill Clinton' infidelities, even as he did so. But Thursday night in New Hampshire, Trump said at an event "let's see what happens" when asked if he might do so in Sunday's second debate.
FoxNews.com's Blanche Johnson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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