RNC, GOP lawmakers to hold conference calls amid Donald Trump fallout
House Republicans and members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) are convening separate conference calls Monday amid the fallout following the leak of a 2005 video showing Donald Trump making lewd comments about women.
With Congress out of session through the election, House Republicans will speak to each other Monday morning by phone about how to deal with Trump and the second presidential debate.
Since the video of Trump surfaced Friday, 29 Republicans have called for Trump to drop out of the presidential race and 44 Republicans have condemned his remarks from 11 years ago, according to a running count by CBS News.
A number of Republicans who have called on Trump to step aside have said he should make way for Mike Pence and some have said they plan on writing in Pence’s name when they cast their ballots.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, endorsed Trump in June and is among those Republicans who have condemned Trump, but haven’t withdrawn their support. On Friday night, however, Ryan disinvited him from an event they were scheduled to appear at together in Wisconsin.
RNC members, meanwhile, are scheduled to hold a 30-minute conference call in the early evening, according to Politico, which obtained an invitation. The conference call does not have a set agenda, the report said, but it follows the revolt from several dozen Republicans.
Trump issued a defiant apology late Friday night in a video statement, but it wasn’t good enough for many Republicans. At the second presidential debate on Sunday night, Trump was asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, one of the moderators, if he understood that he bragged about engaging in sexual assault in his comments from 2005 that surfaced on Friday.
“No, I didn’t say that at all,” Trump said. “I don’t think you understood what I said...This was locker room talk.”
“I apologize to my family and I certainly apologize to the American people,” added Trump, who then started talking about ISIS.
Pressed further to say whether he had actually engaged in such behavior, Trump claimed he hasn’t.