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Paul Ryan cancels campaign event with Donald Trump following nominee's lewd comments about women in 2005 video

‘I am sickened by what I heard today,’ said the house speaker in a statement. Mr Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, was reportedly 'beside himself' when he heard the news

Rachael Revesz
New York
Saturday 08 October 2016 02:18 BST
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Donald Trump caught on tape talking about sexually assaulting women: "Grab 'em by the pussy"

Donald Trump will not attend his first joint campaign event with house speaker Paul Ryan following a leaked video from 2005 which showed Mr Trump bragging about how he had the right to grab women’s genitals.

Hours after the Washington Post obtained the video, where Mr Trump is seen to make lewd and crass comments about women, the house speaker released a statement, condemning the remarks.

“I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified.

“I hope Mr Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests.

“In the meantime, he is no longer attending tomorrow’s event in Wisconsin.”

The event in Wisconsin scheduled for Saturday afternoon, to which Mr Trump has been disinvited, was the first time the nominee and Mr Ryan had planned to appear on the same stage in the name of the Trump campaign.

Mike Pence, Mr Trump's running mate, is reportedly attending the event on Saturday in Mr Trump's place.

There was no mention in the statement whether Mr Ryan was still going to endorse Mr Trump.

Mr Pence was reportedly "beside himself" and his wife, Karen Pence, was "furious" when they heard the news, as reported by the Associated Press.

The Indiana governor had dodged questions about the scandal at the rope line following an event in Ohio on Friday evening.

The nominee was also criticised by his former rivals, most of whom have since endorsed him, including Ohio governor John Kasich, Texas senator Ted Cruz and Florida senator Marco Rubio.

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus also issued a statement to call out his own party’s nominee.

“No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner. Ever,” he said.

At the time of writing, several people have redrawn their endorsements of the nominee, including former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman and Utah governor Gary Herbert.

The video from 2005 showed Mr Trump discussing the aggressive advances he made on a married woman with Billy Bush on a bus as they traveled towards the set of soap opera Days of our Lives.

He said, as a “star” that he could do “whatever [he] wants”, including grabbing women’s genitals, kissing them without asking and making crass comments about their physical appearance.

Hillary Clinton has tweeted that she found the video “horrific”.

Mr Trump said after the video leaked that he had heard much worse from Bill Clinton on the golf course and apologised "if" anyone had been offended by his remarks.

Nancy O'Dell, who now works at Entertainment Tonight, was identified by Access Hollywood as the married journalist that Mr Trump tried to make advances upon.

TMZ reported that in 2007 Mr Trump tried to fire her as co-host of the Trump-sponsored Miss USA beauty pageants because he did not like the way she looked when she was pregnant.

Mr Trump's team did not deny the reports at the time, TMZ said.

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