Donald Trump rejected calls that he step aside as the Republican presidential nominee over lewd videotaped remarks about women, telling The Wall Street Journal on Saturday there is “zero chance I’ll quit.”
“I never, ever give up,” the newspaper quoted Trump as saying following calls by some Republicans that he quit the race after being caught in a 2005 videotape boasting of groping women’s genitals with impunity.
The videotape, released Friday by The Washington Post, forced a rare apology from Trump on the eve of a crucial debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, and set off an uproar in his Republican party.
“Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize,” Trump said early Saturday in a videotaped statement posted on his Twitter account.
It was believed to be the first apology of his 16-month White House campaign, one peppered by controversies over his treatment of women.
But Trump then undercut his words, calling the disclosure a “distraction,” defiantly attacking the Clintons for husband Bill Clinton’s past infidelities, and hinting strongly he would have more to say on the topic in Sunday’s debate in St Louis, Missouri.
“We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday,” he said.
In The Wall Street Journal interview, Trump denied his campaign was in crisis, and predicted the controversy would blow over.
“The support I’m getting is unbelievable, because Hillary Clinton is a horribly flawed candidate,” he said.
– ‘Sickened’ –
Republican reaction to the videotape came fast and furious, with some calling on him to step aside and others withdrawing their endorsement.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican officeholder, said he was “sickened” by what he had heard on the decade-old videotape.
Trump was supposed to appear Saturday with Ryan at a campaign event in the congressman’s home state of Wisconsin, but the Republican nominee was disinvited. Running mate Mike Pence was to go in his place.
SOURCE: Entertainmentnewsnigeria
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