Donald Trump’s taped remarks about groping women and using his fame for sex are reflective of “a pattern of sexual assault”, Hillary Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine said Sunday.
“It’s not just words,” Kaine said in an interview with CNN, adding that Trump must explain to American voters in Sunday night’s presidential debate “why he thought that was acceptable behaviour.
A number of women, including Jill Harth, who spoke to the Guardian in July , have alleged that Trump groped them or behaved in an inappropriate manner.
The Trump campaign has attempted to present the taped remarks as merely unfortunate choices of words.
“That’s what he’s talking about,” top Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week.
“Now whether it happened or not, I don’t know. I do know there’s a tendency on the part of some men at different times to exaggerate things like this.”
The former New York mayor conceded: “I’m not in any way trying to excuse it or condone it. There is no excuse or answer for it other than, ‘I’m very sorry and I wish I hadn’t done it and I’m not like that anymore.’
”Whether Trump will be capable of showing genuine contrition when he faces Hillary Clinton on the debate stage at Washington University in St Louis on Sunday night remains in doubt.
On Sunday morning he used Twitter to thank his supporters in the face of the scandal and take a shot at leaders of his own party.
“Tremendous support (except for some Republican ‘leadership’),” he said. “Thank you.”
A growing chorus of Republicans have called on Trump to step aside in light of the tape, which was published on Friday by the Washington Post. By Sunday morning, 16 senators, including the 2008 presidential nominee, John McCain, had withdrawn their endorsements of the current nominee.
Many argued in favor of letting Trump’s running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence, fight the remainder of the election against Clinton, even though such a scenario remains highly unlikely under Republican party regulations.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in the upper chamber, is the most senior GOP politician so far to have rescinded his support. By Sunday morning, House speaker Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell had not done so.
On Sunday morning, Trump also tweeted : “So many self-righteous hypocrites. Watch their poll numbers – and elections – go down!”
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