Melania Trump Speaks Out, Says 'My Husband Didn't Do Anything'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Melania Trump on Monday dismissed her husband's sexually aggressive language as "boy talk,'' insisting his remarks do not reflect "the man I know'' and said she does not believe that he has assaulted any women.
Trump's wife, in a series of media interviews, said she has accepted her husband's apology and the couple is "moving on.'' The comments come more than a week after the release of a 2005 video in which Trump brags about kissing women and grabbing their genitals without their permission.
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"I said to my husband that, you know, the language is inappropriate. It's not acceptable. And I was surprised, because that is not the man that I know,'' she told CNN.
She suggested that Trump may not have known his microphone was on, calling it "kind of a boy talk'' that "Access Hollywood'' host Billy Bush was encouraging.
"As you can see from the tape, the cameras were not on -- it was only a mic. And I wonder if they even knew that the mic was on," she said. "And he was led on -- like, egged on -- from the host to say dirty and bad stuff."
It was announced Monday that Bush has been fired by NBC.
"I believe my husband,'' she said. "My husband didn't do anything.''
And she suggested that the women who have claimed in recent days that Trump made unwanted advances were attention-seekers who were making "damaging and unfair'' accusations.
"To accuse, no matter who it is, a man or a woman, without evidence, it's damaging and it's unfair," she said.
She also told Fox News that the allegations against her husband are "not true'' and said they are not the first she's heard.
"All the allegations should be handled in a court of law,'' she said.
Mrs. Trump also said it is fair game for her husband to appear with women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault, claiming the Democrats fired the first volley into the increasingly ugly war about the couples' private lives.
"They're asking for it. They started. They started from the beginning of the campaign putting my picture from modeling days,'' she said in excerpts released by Fox News ahead of the interview's broadcast. "That was my modeling days and I'm proud what I did. I worked very hard."
Melania Trump's image was used in a negative ad campaign during the Republican primary, but there is no evidence that the Clintons were involved. At the time, Donald Trump accused former rival Ted Cruz of being involved and responded by tweeting an unflattering image of the Texas senator's wife. Cruz also denied involvement.
The interviews are Melania Trump's first moments in the public eye since the accusations over the last 10 days that have sent her husband's White House bid reeling.
First, the 2005 "Access Hollywood" video was leaked. Then in recent days, several women have come forward to say that Trump had groped or sexually assaulted them.
The Republican nominee has denied the claims, calling the women liars and belittling their appearances.
In the interviews, Melania Trump deemed the celebrity businessman's comments on the leaked tape "offensive to me and they were inappropriate.''
"And he apologized to me,'' she said in an interview with CNN airing at the same time the crowd at her husband's rally in Wisconsin was chanting "CNN sucks.''
"And I expect, I accept his apology," she said. "And we are moving on.''
She said something similar in a statement released by the campaign after the video's release. She has also demanded retractions from a People Magazine writer who profiled the couple in 2005 and last week accused Donald Trump of an assault at the couple's Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, while Melania was out of the room. And she repeated her husband's assertion, which he makes without supporting evidence, that the media and Clinton campaign are working in tandem to sink the Republican nominee's campaign.
Melania Trump has never filled the role of the traditional political spouse, only making rare appearances on the campaign trail. Her speech at July's national convention was initially praised until it was discovered that passages of it were lifted from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention address.
In her CNN interview Monday, she also suggested that, as First Lady, she could be interested in leading an effort to combat bullying and negativity on social media.
Mrs. Trump, whose husband frequently uses social media to attack opponents, said she was worried about its impact on children.
She said she is concerned that her 10-year-old son Barron would be exposed to tough talk on Twitter and other social media platforms.
With one day left before the final debate showdown, Donald Trump has been campaigning in battleground states. He continued to accuse Democrats and the media of a conspiracy against him at a rally in Wisconsin Monday night.
"Remember, we are competing in a rigged election," he said. "This is a rigged election folks."
The latest CBS News poll shows Hillary Clinton widening her lead over Trump to nine points nationwide.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
