Donald Trump's List of Excuses for Comments About Women
Trump has chalked up his comments to "entertainment" and "locker room banter."
— -- "Entertainment," "locker room banter."
These aren't the excuses of a teenager in trouble explaining himself to a parent or teacher -- they belong to the Republican nominee for president of the United States, attempting to explain himself after making controversial and vulgar remarks about women.
The real estate mogul's latest eyebrow-raising and cringe-inducing remarks -- which immediately drew fire from both sides of the aisle and elsewhere -- came in the form of a 2005 audio recording of a conversation with former "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush, who has since apologized.
In it, Trump brags about groping women and his ability to do so as "a star."
"You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait," Trump can be heard saying.
"And when you’re a star they let you do it... You can do anything."
In the wake of the remarks being released, as first reported by the Washington Post, Trump's campaign chalked them up to "locker room banter" that was part of a "private conversation" and instead tried to turn the focus on former president Bill Clinton.
“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago," the statement, attributed to Trump, read. "Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course -- not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."
Trump has also taken heat recently for his remarks about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who accused the presidential candidate of calling her "Miss Piggy" due to her gaining weight and "Miss Housekeeping."
Democratic rival Hillary Clinton invoked Machado's name at the first presidential debate and said that she would be voting in November after recently becoming a U.S. citizen. Even after taking heat, Trump doubled down on his attacks on Machado.
Hillary Clinton also attacked Trump for calling women "pigs, slobs and dogs" at various points.
Fox News host Megyn Kelly issued a similar line of attack at the first primary debate last year to which Trump responded "only Rosie O'Donnell."
At the first presidential debate, Trump denied saying some of remarks he was previously quoted as saying about women, but of O'Donnell he said: "I think everybody would agree she deserves it, and nobody feels sorry for her."
In an interview with KSNV in Las Vegas on Oct. 5, Trump chalked up some of his remarks on women to "entertainment."
"A lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment, there's nobody that has more respect for women than I do," he said.
During the primary, he offered a similar argument as to why he insulted Republican candidate Carly Fiorina's looks.
"Many of those comments are made as an entertainer, because I did 'The Apprentice,'" he told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren at the time.
ABC News did not immediately receive a response from NBC Universal, which owns "Access Hollywood."
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