Trump campaign planned for Bill Clinton's accusers to confront him on national television at the debate

The Donald Trump campaign planned to seat former President Bill Clinton's sexual assault accusers in the Trump family box at the debate, hoping for a televised showdown before the event kicked off, but had its plans thwarted at the last minute.

Several unnamed sources told The Washington Post that debate officials intervened and stopped the plan from being executed only minutes before the debate started.

Trump campaign CEO Stephen Bannon and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner came up with the plan and Trump personally approved it, according to the Post.

Four of the former president's accusers, who did end up attending the debate but did not sit in the Trump family box, were supposed to walk into the debate hall at the same time as Clinton and confront him, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said.

"We were going to put the four women in the VIP box," Giuliani told the Post. "We had it all set. We wanted to have them shake hands with Bill, to see if Bill would shake hands with them."

Giuliani also noted that debate officials told the Trump campaign that "'security would throw them out" if they went ahead with the plot.

"We pulled it because we were going to have a big incident on national TV," Giuliani said.

The former president was in attendance at the debate to watch his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, debate Trump.

Trump, the Republican nominee for president, landed in hot water on Friday when a leaked recording showed him boasting about trying to sleep with a married woman and remarking that he could "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."

After the recording leaked, Trump issued a statement saying Bill Clinton "has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close."

Trump has also used the former president's sordid history to criticize Hillary Clinton.