REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Barack Obama.
President Barack Obama on Sunday called the shocking leaked 2005 recording of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about being able to "grab" women "by the p---y" a sign of the Manhattan billionaire's insecurity.
The recording of Trump, which was picked up by a hot mic and published by The Washington Post on Friday, came from an interaction between Trump and television personality Billy Bush. In addition to his comments about grabbing women "by the p---y," Trump made a litany of other sexually suggestive remarks. The Post reported it came after Trump married his third wife, Melania.
"One of the most disturbing things about this election is just the unbelievable rhetoric coming at the top of the Republican ticket," Obama said at a fundraiser in Chicago. "I don't need to repeat it. There are children in the room."
"But demeaning women, degrading women, but also minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths, mocking the disabled, insulting our troops, insulting our veterans," he continued, naming a list of prior controversial Trump comments. "That tells you a couple things. It tells you he is insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down. Not a character trait that I would advise for somebody in the Oval Office."
The president said the tape showed that Trump "doesn't care much about the basic values we try to impart to kids."
Trump addressed the matter in a Friday statement, in which he called the comments "locker room banter" and added that former President Bill Clinton has said "far worse to me on the golf course."
That was later followed by a late-night video address, offering a brief apology and saying he looked forward to the Sunday night presidential debate. He posted a tweet Saturday morning to call the past day "certainly ... interesting."
Almost immediately, Trump came under fire from those on both sides of the aisle - as many top Republicans either strongly condemned the comments or unendorsed the Manhattan billionaire altogether.