President Barack Obama. Credit:AP "The words are demeaning," Mr Biden wrote. "Such behaviour is an abuse of power. It's not lewd. It's sexual assault." The video, recorded in 2005 and obtained by The Washington Post, captured Mr Trump bragging in vulgar terms about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women during a 2005 conversation caught on a hot microphone - saying that "when you're a star, they let you do it".

Mr Obama's comments come just hours before Mr Trump will face off against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the second presidential debate in St Louis. Donald Trump's hair is a topic of conversation in locker rooms. Credit:AP At a campaign event in Chicago, Mr Obama said Mr Trump's lewd comments suggested that he "doesn't care much about the basic values". "Demeaning women, degrading women - but also minorities. Immigrants. People of other faiths. Mocking the disabled. Insulting our troops, Insulting our veterans. That tells you a couple of things: It tells you that he's insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down. Not a character trait that I would advise for somebody in the Oval Office," he said. "It tells you that he'd be careless with the civility and the respect that a real vibrant democracy requires."

Mr Obama is scheduled to do more campaigning for Mrs Clinton this week, with trips to North Carolina and Ohio. He has repeatedly called Mr Trump "unfit" for the presidency, and has challenged Republican leaders about their support for their nominee. After Mr Trump's disparaging comments about the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier in July, Mr Obama said Republican leaders' repeated denunciations of Mr Trump's statements "ring hollow" if they continue to endorse him. Mr Trump has vowed to remain in the race even as his campaign was thrown into crisis as his own running mate criticised him and some prominent Republicans withdrew support and urged him to drop out following news of a recording of him making lewd comments in 2005. Just over a day after the 2005 video became public, CNN released a series of audio files of Mr Trump discussing threesomes, having sex with women while they are menstruating and praising his daughter Ivanka's physique. The audio was compiled by CNN's KFile from 17 years of discussions between the Republican presidential candidate and US radio shock jock Howard Stern

In an unusual move, vice-presidential running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence distanced himself from Mr Trump, issuing a critical statement on Twitter that he cannot defend the nominee. Mr Pence is one of dozens of Republicans abandoning Mr Trump in the wake of the comment surfacing in recent days. Republican leaders have been nearly unanimous in their denunciations of Mr Trump's vulgar language and his boast that he felt entitled by his celebrity to make unwanted sexual advances. But many party elders, elected officials and donors are arguing publicly and privately that Republicans must go further in isolating or even abandoning Trump. Growing numbers of prominent GOP figures are publicly revoking their support for the party's nominee, and some are urging that he be replaced at the top of the ballot by Mr Pence.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has remained largely silent except to lay the groundwork for their party's congressional candidates to link their opponents to Mr Trump's troubles. The Clinton campaign decided on Saturday that the candidate would do no interviews or make any further statement about Trump's recorded comments before the debate Sunday evening, a close aide said. Loading Mrs Clinton will address the comments and Mr Trump's fitness for office at or near the beginning of the debate, the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

Fairfax Media, Wires