Senator John McCain, a top Republican, has withdrawn his support of Donald Trump, saying the businessman’s demeaning comments about women make it impossible for him to back the candidate.
McCain’s announcement is being seen as a setback for Trump on the eve of second presidential debate with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“As I said yesterday, there are no excuses for Donald Trump’s offensive and demeaning comments in the just released video; no woman should ever be victimized by this kind of inappropriate behavior,” he said in a statement following The Washington Post’s release of a video of Trump’s 2005 salacious remarks.
“He alone bears the burden of his conduct and alone should suffer the consequences,” McCain added, .
The former presidential candidate declared he and his wife Cindy McCain would not vote for Trump.
“But Donald Trump’s behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy. Cindy, with her strong background in human rights and respect for women fully agrees with me on this.
“Cindy and I will not vote for Donald Trump. I have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate and we will not vote for Hillary Clinton. We will write in the name of some good conservative Republican who is qualified to be President.”
Other prominent Republicans also issued a blistering rejection of Trump’s vulgar conversation about groping and seducing women.
After the release of the video, Trump has apologized for the comments but Republicans more than ever before now fearr of collapse of his campaign.
The embarrassing audio was recorded in 2005 while Trump was on a bus with former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said he was “sickened” and cancelled a “unity appearance” with Trump that had been scheduled for Saturday in Wisconsin.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said that Trump’s remarks “are repugnant and unacceptable in any circumstance” and the nominee “needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere.”
