Rick Scott joins a long list of public officials that have offered a resounding rebuke of derogatory remarks made by Donald Trump. | Getty Scott, Rubio rebuke Trump

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a staunch defender of Donald Trump and chairman of the super PAC backing him, issued a rare rebuke of the Republican nominee over his lewd comments about women that emerged Friday.

“I'm not following politics closely right now, but this is terrible. I don't agree with anyone talking like this about anyone, ever,” Scott, the father of two girls, told his hometown newspaper, the Naples Daily News, in a written statement.


Scott joins a long list of public officials that have offered a resounding rebuke of derogatory remarks Trump made toward women in a private audio tape from 2005.

During the recording, Trump boasts about groping and attempting to sleep with women in a rant laced with expletives and vulgarities.

“And when you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump said to Billy Bush of “Access Hollywood” in a clip first published by the Washington Post. “You can do anything.”

“Whatever you want,” an off-camera voice that appears to be Bush replies.

“Grab them by the pussy,” Trump says.

The Trump super PAC Scott chair, Rebuilding America Now, has been running ads in Florida and other swing states.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who has to share a ballot with Trump and has tried to avoid criticizing the man who beat him in the GOP presidential primary, also broke his silence.

“Donald's comments were vulgar, egregious & impossible to justify. No one should ever talk about any woman in those terms, even in private,” said Rubio, who has two daughters and two sons.

One top Florida Republican close to both Trump’s and Rubio’s campaigns said he expects “Rubio might start criticizing Trump more. He has to. If Donald tanks, Marco doesn’t want to go with him.”

Polls show Rubio is winning his reelection at the same time Trump is losing the presidential race in Florida, a state Trump must win or he loses his shot at the White House.

Scott’s comments were more unexpected in Florida. Scott has embraced Trump enthusiastically since the March 15 presidential preference primary. The governor also nearly endorsed Trump before the race. On numerous occasions, Scott has pointedly refused to criticize Trump, at one point getting his mic cut on MSNBC’s show “Morning Joe” for dodging a question about the candidate’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S.