GOP CALLS DONALD TRUMP TO QIT RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE, BUT TRUMP REPLIES "NEVER!"
Saturday, October 08, 2016
 | ||
| Republican leaders across the nation called on Trump to quit the race following the release of his vulgar and sexually charged comments caught on tape.
|
Let's read the comment from Co-host Billy Bush who appears on the "Today" show in New York. Bush says he's "embarrassed and ashamed" by a 2005 conversation he had with Donald Trump in which Trump made lewd comments about women. Bush, then a host of the entertainment news show "Access Hollywood," was chatting with Trump as the businessman waited to make a cameo appearance on a soap opera. In a statement Friday, Oct. 7, Bush says he was younger and less mature when the incident occurred, adding that he "acted foolishly in playing along." (Peter Kramer/NBC via AP)
www.vietpressusa.com
oOo
 |
| Co-host Billy Bush appears on the "Today" show in New York.Bush says he's "embarrassed and ashamed" by a 2005 conversation he had with Donald Trump in which Trump made lewd comments about women. |
Trump dismisses GOP calls to quit race:
'Never'
NEW YORK (AP) — A defiant Donald Trump
insisted Saturday he would "never" abandon his White House bid,
facing an intensifying backlash from Republican leaders across the nation who
called on him to quit the race following the release of his vulgar and sexually
charged comments caught on tape.
With Republicans from Utah to Alabama to
New Hampshire turning their back on their nominee, GOP loyalists like House
Speaker Paul Ryan refused to give up on Trump, who has long faced criticism
from within his own party, but never to this degree. Frustration turned to
panic across the GOP with early voting already underway in some states and
Election Day one month away.
"As disappointed as I've been with his
antics throughout this campaign, I thought supporting the nominee was the best
thing for our country and our party," Alabama Rep. Martha Roby said in a
statement. "Now, it is abundantly clear that the best thing for our
country and our party is for Trump to step aside and allow a responsible,
respectable Republican to lead the ticket."
Trump declared he would not yield the GOP
nomination under any circumstances. "Zero chance I'll quit," he told
The Wall Street Journal. He told The Washington Post: "I'd never withdraw.
I've never withdrawn in my life." He claimed to have "tremendous
support."
In a videotaped midnight apology, Trump
declared "I was wrong and I apologize" after being caught on tape
bragging about aggressively groping women in 2005. He also defiantly dismissed
the revelations as "nothing more than a distraction" from a decade
ago and signaled he would press his presidential campaign by arguing that rival
Hillary Clinton has committed greater sins against women.
"I've said some foolish things,"
Trump said in a video posted on his Facebook page early Saturday. "But
there's a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill
Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and
intimidated his victims."
Trump addressed what was arguably the most
difficult day of his candidacy on Twitter later in the morning: "Certainly
has been an interesting 24 hours!" The latest explosive revelation marked
a tipping point for some party loyalists, while forcing vulnerable Republican
candidates to answer a painful question: Even if they condemn Trump's vulgar
comments, will they still vote for him?
New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte answered
the question with a loud No on Saturday, reversing her previous position that
she would vote for Trump even though she declined to endorse him. "I'm a
mom and an American first, and I cannot and will not support a candidate for
president who brags about degrading and assaulting women," Ayotte said.
"I will not be voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton and instead will
be writing in Gov. Pence for president on Election Day."
The release of the videotape almost
completely overshadowed the release of hacked emails from inside the Hillary
Clinton campaign that revealed the contents of some of her previously secret
paid speeches to Wall Street.
The Democratic nominee told bankers behind
closed doors that she favored "open trade and open borders" and said
Wall Street executives were best-positioned to help overhaul the U.S. financial
sector. Such comments were distinctively at odds with her tough talk about
trade and Wall Street during the primary campaign, when she catered to the
party's left under pressure from rival Bernie Sanders.
Republican strategist Terry Sullivan, who
previously led Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, predicted Trump's defeat.
"It's over," he said. "The only good news is that in 30 days
Trump will be back to being just a former reality TV star like the Kardashians,
and Republican candidates across America will no longer be asked to respond to
his stupid remarks."
Some Trump loyalists defiantly defended
their nominee. "I still have my Trump sign on my yard and everybody on my
street does too," said Pennsylvania GOP chairman Rob Gleason. "It's
business as usual, with door-knocking today."
He went on: "I don't agree with what
was said — it's not a good thing to be saying." But he added:
"campaigns are filled with lots of ups and downs." One by one,
outraged GOP lawmakers have condemned Trump's comments in a 2005 video obtained
and released Friday by The Washington Post and NBC News. In the video, Trump is
heard describing attempts to have sex with a married woman. He also brags about
women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous.
"When you're a star they let you do
it. You can do anything," Trump says in the previously unaired comments.
He adds seconds later: "Grab them by the p----. You can do anything."
House Speaker Ryan said Friday was "sickened" by Trump's remarks.
Ryan revoked an invitation for Trump to appear at a GOP event Saturday in
Wisconsin. But Ryan did not pull his endorsement.
Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho did,
however. "This is not a decision that I have reached lightly, but his
pattern of behavior left me no choice," the Republican senator said in a
statement. Meanwhile, Ryan fundraising chief Spencer Zwick said he's been
fielding calls from donors who "want help putting money together to fund a
new person to be the GOP nominee."
Zwick told The Associated Press that a
write-in or "sticker campaign" relying on social media could
"actually work." While there has never been a winning write-in
campaign in a U.S. presidential contest, such an effort could make it harder
for Trump to win. Zwick did not identify which "new person" might be
the focus of a write-in campaign, although he was briefly supportive of a third
run for Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee, last year.
While funding another candidate could
siphon votes away from Trump, the GOP's biggest donors have little leverage
even if they threaten to withhold money for the rest of the campaign. Trump's
campaign has relied far more on small contributors across the country than from
the party's stalwart donors who write the biggest checks possible.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, like Utah Rep. Jason
Chaffetz, said Trump had finally gone too far. "You, sir, are the
distraction," Lee said in a video posted to his Facebook page after
Trump's apology. Lee called on Trump to abandon his campaign, saying it was
time for the Republican Party to "expect more. There is no need for us to
settle."
Peoples reported from Washington.
Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire in New York, Bill Barrow in Atlanta,
Julie Bykowicz in Washington and Julie Pace in Syracuse, New York, contributed
to this report. Follow Steve Peoples and Jonathan Lemire on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/sppeoples and http://twitter.com/colvinj
Source: https://www.mail.com/news/world/4655834-trump-dismisses-gop-calls-to-quit-race-never.html
oOo
Hạnh Dương
www.Vietpressusa.com
