Following Republican calls for Donald Trump to step down from the presidential ticket after the release of a 2005 video showing him bragging about sexual assault, Trump made clear in interviews with multiple newspapers on Saturday that he has no intention of leaving the race.
The Wall Street Journal reported that he says there’s “zero chance I’ll quit,” that “I never give up,” and that the “support I’m getting is unbelievable.”
In an extensive interview with the Washington Post’s Robert Costa, meanwhile, Trump said he would “never withdraw.” Here is the key portion:
“I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life,” Trump told the Washington Post in a phone call from his home in Trump Tower in New York. “No, I’m not quitting this race. I have tremendous support.”
“People are calling and saying, ‘Don’t even think about doing anything else but running,” Trump said when asked about GOP defections. “You have to see what’s going on. The real story is that people have no idea the support. I don’t know how that’s going to boil down but people have no idea the support.
Trump also said he thought he’d be able to keep Republicans in line because of the party’s negative feelings toward Hillary Clinton.
“It’s because she’s so bad. She’s so flawed as a candidate,” he told the Post. “Running against her, I can’t say it’d be the same if I ran against someone else, but running against her makes it a lot easier, that’s for sure.”
Costa also reported that Trump compared this storm to the controversy in June of 2015 when he said that former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain was not a war hero.
“Everyone said, ‘It’s over, it’s over.’ The people didn’t say that but the reporters said that,” Trump said. When asked to explain his ability in the past to survive, Trump said it’s because “I’m change.”
Reflecting on his state of mind as he watched news coverage from his apartment, Trump said, “I’m holding up well. I’m holding up well.”
Trump offered an apology for his remarks in a video overnight, but in his initial response to the video he excused his description of “grab[bing women] by the pussy” as private “locker room banter.” He told Costa that he was considering giving another speech on Saturday evening to buck up his supporters but that he would not be quitting the race in such a speech.
“Forget that,” Trump told Costa. “That’s not my deal.”
Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado, and conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt are among a number of Republicans who have already called on Trump to leave the race following the release of the video. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who condemned Trump’s remarks on Friday and had been scheduled to speak with him in Wisconsin on Saturday before Trump canceled his attendance of the event, has not.
