"I respectfully ask you, with all due respect, to step aside. Step down, allow someone else to carry the banner of these principles... rather than weighing down the American people," Lee said in a video posted to Facebook on Friday night.

Lee — who has refused to endorse Trump — said Republicans should instead "find a candidate that can carry that banner without distraction and without settling."

ADVERTISEMENT

"As [Republicans] been asked to settle, we've been given a huge series of distractions," Lee said in the video, before turning his focus to directly addressing Trump: "With all due respect, sir, you are the distraction. Your conduct, sir, is the distraction."

The Washington Post published audio of the businessman making explicit comments about trying to have sex with women, which were caught on a hot mic in 2005. Trump issued a half-apology, saying the comments were private "locker-room banter" and "I apologize if anyone was offended."

Though Trump offered a deeper apology late Friday night in a video, he also said the comments were a "distraction" from the election.