At the third presidential debate Wednesday night, Donald Trump resoundingly dismissed the sexual assault allegations that have piled up against him in recent weeks.
Moderator Chris Wallace directly questioned Trump about the accusations and his dismissal of his controversial 2005 remarks in the last debate as mere “locker room” talk.
Trump, in his response, not only claimed that the accusations had been debunked—they haven’t—but that he never even felt the need to apologize to his wife, Melania Trump.
First of all the stories have been largely debunked. Those people, I don’t know those people. I have a feeling how they came I believe it was her campaign that did it. Just like if you look at what came out today on the clips where I was wondering what happened with my rally in Chicago And other rallies where we had such violence? She’s the one in Obama that caused the violence. They hired people. They payed them fifteen hundred dollars and there on tape saying be violent cause fights do bad things.
I would say the only way—because those stories are all totally false I have to say that. And I didn’t even apologize to my wife who is sitting right here because I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know any of these women, I didn’t see these women. These women, the woman on the plane, the woman—I think they want either fame or her campaign did it.
That statement appears to directly contradict what Melania Trump told Fox News on Monday.
Melania on leaked tape: Those words, they were offensive to me & they were inappropriate. And he apologized to me. And I accept his apology. pic.twitter.com/U7H7CKWCJu
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 17, 2016
Melania Trump appeared on Fox & Friends to respond to her husband’s lewd comments about women on a 2005 hot mic recording during a Access Hollywood taping—not the string of allegations that followed after the tape’s release—but it’s interesting to see Trump so publicly and strongly refute the allegations. “Those words, they were offensive to me and they were inappropriate,” Melania Trump said. “And he apologized to me. And I expect… I accept his apology. And we are moving on.”