Trump apologizes for graphic comments about women, says they don't reflect his character

Donald Trump
(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

An embattled Donald Trump released an apology video just after midnight on Saturday addressing the furor over Friday's release of a recording from 2005 which heard the Republican nominee speaking about women in lewd, graphic terms.

"I've never said I'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I'm not," Trump said. "I've said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more-than-a-decade-old video are one of them," he continued. "Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize."

From there the candidate moved on to describing how the campaign trail has changed him; arguing that Hillary Clinton's record in office is a more serious offense than his crude remarks; and pledging "to be a better man tomorrow" who will never disappoint his supporters. Watch the apology video below via Trump's Twitter account. Bonnie Kristian

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.