Trump Apologizes, but Also Calls Crude Remarks a Distraction

Trump Apologizes, but Also Calls Crude Remarks a Distraction
A clock sits outside of Trump Tower in New York on Oct. 8, 2016. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
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NEW YORK—Caught on tape making shockingly crude comments about a married woman he tried to seduce, Donald Trump declared in a midnight video, “I was wrong and I apologize.” Yet even as he did so, he claimed the astonishing recording was “nothing more than a distraction” and argued his words were not nearly as egregious as former President Bill Clinton’s marital affairs.

“I’ve said some foolish things,” the Republican presidential nominee said in a taped apology posted on his Facebook page early Saturday morning. “But there’s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women.”

Turning to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Trump accused her of having “bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated” her husband’s “victims.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall in Sandown, N.H., on Oct. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall in Sandown, N.H., on Oct. 6, 2016. AP Photo/ Evan Vucci