Melania asks to forgive Trump on 'unacceptable' lewd comments

Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, described her husband's controversial comments about women in a 2005 video as "unacceptable and offensive", but asked people to accept his apology.

"The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me," the ex-model from Slovenia said in a statement on Saturday.

Referring to the lewd comments Trump made in the recently aired video, Melania said: "This does not represent the man that I know."

"He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world," CBS news quoted her as saying.

Her note was published after a huge controversy broke out over a 2005 video -- the year when the magnate married for the third time to Melania -- that was aired on Friday, in which Trump is heard making vulgar macho remarks about women.

"I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait... And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything," the billionaire said in the video.

The statements have cost the New York magnate rejection by members of his own party, to the extent that many have even asked him to drop out of the presidential race.

Despite the pressure from Republican party, Trump, who after midnight Friday posted a video to apologise for the vulgarity, said on Saturday there was no chance he would throw in the towel.

"There is zero chance I'll quit," the mogul told the Wall Street Journal in an interview, during which he denied that his campaign is in crisis and said the support he is getting is "tremendous", EFE news reported.

In his Facebook video, released after midnight on Saturday, the GOP nominee told viewers: "I never said that I'm a perfect person. Nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it. I was wrong and I apologise."

Trump delivered the apology after the Washington Post published the recording which was recorded by "Access Hollywood" several months after he married Melania. Trump was referring to an actress who appears later in the tape.

--IANS

py/