"I’ve never said I’m a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I am not. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-long video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I’ve said it, I was wrong and I apologize," Trump said in a video released late on Friday.
The Republican presidential candidate promised to be "a better man" in the future and pointed out that other prominent figures, particularly Hillary and Bill Clinton, are also guilty of negative behaviour with respect to women.
"This nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we are facing today," Trump stressed.
On Friday, a 2005 video recording was circulated by US media in which Donald Trump is speaking to Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood" on a bus that took them to the set of "Days of Our Lives." Trump makes several vulgar remarks with regard to women while on the bus, as caught on microphone, although the video only shows the moving bus from the outside.
Later, Trump is seen exiting the bus with Bush and greeting Arianne Zucker, the actress who then goes with them to the soap-opera set.
In the course of his campaign, Trump has been widely criticized for his controversial statements, including with regard to immigrants, Latin Americans, Muslims, and women.
