Donald Trump spokesperson responds to claims Melania did not want to appear in joint interview after lewd comments

A spokesperson for Donald Trump has denied Melania Trump was reluctant to appear next to her husband in a joint interview after lewd comments he made about groping women were unearthed.

The embattled Republican candidate’s campaign for the White House was rocked on Friday by an audio recording of Mr Trump describing making sexual advances on other women. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them,” he was heard telling presenter Billy Bush during filming on Access Hollywood. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star they’ll let you do it, you can do anything. Grab ‘em by the p****. You can do anything.”

The comments were caught on a hot mic while the then 60-year-old and Bush were riding a bus onto the set of Days Of Our Lives. Mr Trump and Melania wed in January, around eight months before he made the comments. She give birth to their son Barron in March 2006, meaning she may also have been pregnant at the time.

A report in the New York Times suggested Melania did not want to appear in a joint interview proposed as a way of quelling the anger reverberating after his remarks were made public.

The report states: “Inside the tower on Saturday, different plans of action were discussed. Mr Trump and his advisers considered a joint television interview that he and Ms Trump would give to a major network, an echo of the 1992 appearance by the Clintons on 60 Minutes after Gennifer Flowers claimed that she had had an affair with Mr Clinton.

“The deliberations over a possible interview were moving ahead despite Ms Trump’s lack of interest in appearing on camera.”

When asked about the suggestion Melania was unwilling to appear next to Mr Trump made within the report, his official spokesperson Hope Hicks told the Independent it was “simply untrue”. She did not comment any further.

Melania released a statement after the revelations in support of Mr Trump in an effort to deflect attention back to what their campaign has pushed as the merits of his leadership bid. “The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me," her statement read. "This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader.

“I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.”