Robby Mook called the 2005 tape of Trump that leaked Friday “horrifying and unfortunate.” | Getty Clinton camp: Trump campaign 'spiraling'

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is spiraling into a hole it’s struggling to dig itself out of, according to Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager.

In an interview Sunday with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Robby Mook called the 2005 tape of Trump that leaked Friday “horrifying and unfortunate.” Indeed, the exceptionally crude comments Trump made about attempted adultery and sexual assault drew widespread condemnation from Democrats and Republicans, including vulnerable incumbents and other current and former GOP officials who have called on him to step aside or said they can longer support the nominee.


“Well, I think Donald Trump’s campaign is spiraling,” Mook told host John Dickerson. “They are trying to figure out a way to dig out of this mess.”

Even so, Mook said Clinton plans to focus on the issues in Sunday evening’s second presidential debate, as he suggested Trump do.

“This race is between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. And that’s why we’re gonna continue to focus on the issues,” he said. “If we need to discuss the issues that were raised in that video with Donald Trump, that’s fine. But the question here is what is Hillary Clinton’s take on that issue, not her husband’s.”

Mook also declined to verify the authenticity of a trove of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails released by WikiLeaks on Friday but defended an excerpt from one of Clinton’s paid speeches in which she said her “dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders.”

Mook insisted Clinton was talking about energy, a claim supported by the leaked excerpt.

“She said that she wants a market where green energy can flow. She was talking about integrating green energy between North and South America, but again, I don’t know that these are actually true,” he said. “But if the question is does Hillary Clinton support throwing open our borders? Absolutely not, and she’s gonna do everything she can to fight to protect the interest of workers in this country.”