Signs of a split in the Trump campaign over allegations of sexual misconduct emerged on Sunday, as key surrogates diverged in their support for the candidate and the way he has responded.
“I believe my friend Donald Trump when he tells me he didn’t do it,” said Rudy Giuliani, the former of New York and a top adviser to the nominee, on CNN’s State of the Union.
He conceded, however, that he could not speak to the particulars of every allegation, which range from a sexual assault lawsuit to aggressive groping to nonconsensual kisses and barging in on beauty pageant contestants while they changed. “I haven’t been able to focus on every single [allegation],” he said.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich expressed frustration with Trump’s reaction to the allegations, telling ABC’s This Week: “I think it’s stupid.”
A week ago, the Washington Post published a leaked 2005 recording, from the NBC show Access Hollywood, in which Trump boasted about making unwanted advances to women. At the second presidential debate last Sunday, he denied ever having done what he bragged of, insisting it had merely been an example of “locker room talk”.
Nine women have since accused the Republican nominee of unwanted touching or kissing. The ninth, Cathy Heller, told the Guardian on Saturday Trump “grabbed me and went for my mouth and went for my lips”.
Trump has denied all the claims, and also called his accusers “horrible, horrible liars” and, in some cases, demeaned their physical appearance. “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you,” he said of one woman on Friday.
“I believe Donald Trump,” Giuliani said on Sunday. “I don’t know the nine women, I don’t know the case, I’m not going to engage in Clinton-type conduct and attack them.”
He did, however, question two of the women who have come forward, including Jessica Leeds, who spoke to the New York Times: “Some of these things appear to be on their face to be kind of untrue [such as] 15 minutes of groping in first class on an airplane.”
A self-professed witness emerged on Friday to question the claims by Leeds, which relate to alleged events on a flight in the early 1980s. Reports in the UK have questioned the character and background of the British witness, Anthony Gilberthorpe, a 54-year-old former conservative activist.
“You don’t pick who the witnesses are,” Giuliani said. “This man’s come forward on his own and said it’s not true.”
Trump held a press conference last week with three women critical of Hillary Clinton for her conduct toward accusers of her husband, and one who was the alleged victim in a 1975 rape trail in which Clinton represented one of the accused.
“I really don’t want to dispute this with you,” Giuliani said. “Should we be beyond that now? Should we beyond Hillary Clinton’s past, Donald Trump’s past?”
Gingrich also voiced frustration. He said he saw “a big Trump” and “a little Trump”. “The Big Trump is a historic figure,” he said, who “is creating issues that make the establishment very uncomfortable.
“The Little Trump frankly gets out – is stupid. I mean, that comment just then is dumb. And I don’t defend him when he wanders off. I’ve told him over and over. You know, presidents have to be disciplined, and in that sense Hillary is probably better trained to be president.”
Other Trump supporters sought to cast doubt on the women’s claims and whether the media should report them. On CNN on Sunday, Renee Ellmers, a Republican representative from North Carolina, said: “It is a ‘he said, she said’ situation.”
“To correct you,” host Jake Tapper interjected, “it’s a ‘he said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said’ situation.”
Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, said the allegations were “unsubstantiated” and that he believed the nominee when he said the recording was “just talk”. Pence told NBC’s Meet the Press it was “necessary to move beyond the issue”.
A Washington Post/ABC poll released on Sunday suggested some voters may have done so. Though Clinton took big leads in some battleground states after the debate, prompting her to discuss the prospect of a landslide victory, the new nationwide poll showed her with just a 47% to 43% lead over Trump. The Libertarian Gary Johnson polled at 5%, and the Green party’s Jill Stein at 2%.
In the same poll, however, 35% of respondents said events since the release of the Access Hollywood tape had made them less likely to vote for Trump. 64% said it would make no difference and 1% said events had made them more likely to vote for the Republican.
A CBS poll, also released Sunday, showed Clinton up 46%-40% in 13 key states, with a 15-point advantage among women.
The third and final debate will be held in Las Vegas in Wednesday.