Donald Trump on Saturday defied growing calls from leading Republicans to withdraw from the presidential race in favour of his running mate, a day after a decade-old recording revealed him bragging in explicit terms about using his fame to grope and take advantage of women.

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Trump issued a rare apology for the remarks on Friday and on Saturday was reported to be in crisis talks with close advisers in New York City. But in a call to the Washington Post he said: “I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life. No, I’m not quitting this race. I have tremendous support.”

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, he said: “There is zero chance I’ll quit.” To the New York Times, he said his “tremendous support” meant he would win the presidency.

Shortly after CNN reported that in 2006 Trump told the radio host Howard Stern it was OK to call his daughter Ivanka “a piece of ass”, Trump tweeted: “The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly” and added in capitals: “I will never drop out of the race, will never let my supporters down.”

Against this backdrop, with just one month until election day and one day until the second presidential debate, a growing chorus of senior Republicans – if not party leadership – called for Trump to let his running mate take over.



Multiple sources told the Guardian there was a meeting at Republican National Committee headquarters on Friday night, to discuss possible ways to remove Trump from the ticket. The meeting ended with no clear resolution.

The businessman’s own vice-presidential pick, Mike Pence, decried “the words and actions described by Donald Trump” in the video.

“I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them. I am grateful that he has expressed remorse,” he added, before alluding to Sunday night’s presidential debate. “We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night.”

Melania Trump, the candidate’s wife, issued a statement in which she said her husband’s words were “unacceptable and offensive” but added that “this does not represent the man that I know” and said Trump had “the heart and mind of a leader”.

Senator John Thune, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, led calls for Trump’s withdrawal, writing: “Donald Trump should withdraw and Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately.”

John McCain, the Arizona senator and 2008 nominee, on Saturday afternoon rescinded his support for Trump. “I have wanted to support the candidate our party nominated. He was not my choice, but as a past nominee, I thought it important I respect the fact that Donald Trump won a majority of the delegates by the rules our party set,” he said.

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“But Donald Trump’s behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts of sexual assaults, make it impossible to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.”

Kelly Ayotte, a senator in New Hampshire locked in a tough re-election battle, said in a statement that as “a mom and an American” she “cannot and will not support a candidate for president who brags about degrading and assaulting women”. She would, she said, write Pence’s name on the ballot. Senators Ben Sasse, Mike Crapo, Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan and Cory Gardner also rescinded support or called for Trump to step aside.

This did not deter Trump, who told the Post keeping the party behind him was easier because Hillary Clinton was “so flawed as a candidate. Running against her, I can’t say it’d be the same if I ran against someone else, but running against her makes it a lot easier, that’s for sure.”

“People are calling and saying, ‘Don’t even think about doing anything else but running,’” he added. “You have to see what’s going on. The real story is that people have no idea the support. I don’t know how that’s going to boil down but people have no idea the support.”

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In Utah, senior Republicans explicitly abandoned the candidate. Governor Gary Herbert and Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House committee investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, withdrew their support. Senator Mike Lee, representative Chris Stewart and former governor Jon Huntsman called on Trump to step aside and let Pence lead the ticket.



Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who has never backed Trump, said: “Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world.”

A senior campaign official told the Guardian the independent conservative candidate Evan McMullin was in the state on Saturday, meeting his team as well as with a number of senior elected officials.

The 2005 hot-mic recording, which was obtained by the Washington Post, showed Trump speaking to Billy Bush, a cousin of George and Jeb Bush who was then host of Access Hollywood, as they prepared to meet a star of a soap opera in which Trump was to film a cameo.



In the tape, Trump, then newly married to Melania, his third wife, reminisces about making a pass at a married woman, saying: “I moved on her and I failed, I’ll admit it … I did try and fuck her. She was married.”

He then describes his efforts at seduction: “I am automatically attracted to beautiful women. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss, I don’t even wait … and when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

“Grab them by the pussy,” he says. “You can do anything.”

Trump initially dismissed the remarks as “locker room banter” and said: “Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course – not even close.” Late on Friday night, however, his campaign posted a 90-second videotaped apology on Facebook, and again mentioned Clinton’s extramarital affairs.

“I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not,” Trump said. “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”

Saturday was meant to be a major turning point for the Republican party, with Trump due to appear at a campaign event for the first time with the House speaker, Paul Ryan, in the congressman’s home state, Wisconsin.

Instead, Ryan said the remarks had “sickened” him and a source confirmed to the Guardian that Trump had been explicitly disinvited to what had been billed as a “Republican unity event”. Trump said in a statement that Pence would appear in his place, but on Saturday Pence also withdrew from the event.

At the event, in Walworth County, Ryan said: “Let me start out by saying, there is a bit of an elephant in the room.” He then proceeded to ignore the elephant.

“It is a troubling situation, I’m serious, it is,” the Speaker said, drawing a mixed reaction from the crowd. “I put out a statement about this last night. I meant what I said and it’s still how I feel. But that is not what we are here to talk about today.”

Trump remained in New York, ostensibly to prepare for the debate at Washington University in St Louis on Sunday night. The Republican National Committee chair, Reince Priebus, was reported with him. Priebus said on Friday: “No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever.”

Statements of censure from senior Republicans stopped short of outright retreat. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, a pair who faced Trump in the primary, condemned his remarks but did not rescind their endorsements.

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Trump has proved remarkably resilient in the face of controversies that include sustaining a nearly $1bn loss that may have enabled him to not pay federal income tax for 18 years; insulting the parents of a Muslim US soldier who died in Iraq; imitating a disabled reporter; mocking McCain for being captured in Vietnam; and proposing a ban on Muslims entering the US.



Hillary Clinton seized on Trump’s comments on Friday, saying on Twitter: “This is horrific. We cannot allow this man to become president.”

Staffers within the Trump campaign have expressed deep dismay about the effect the tape will have on the businessman’s already narrow path to the White House, sources told the Guardian. Publicly, however, Trump surrogates attempted to minimize fallout by raising conspiratorial questions about the timing of the release – on the same day WikiLeaks released what appeared to be transcripts of Clinton’s paid speeches.

There were some supportive voices outside Trump Tower on Saturday. Emily Roberts, visiting from San Antonio, said: “As a woman, yes, it’s offensive, but [the remarks] were behind closed doors. I think Trump can say anything he wants. It’s not going to change the minds of voters. It is what it is.”

Her husband, Chris Roberts, agreed: “It’s just regular locker room talk. That’s perfectly fine.”

