Donald Trump has issued a rare apology for comments recorded in 2005 in which he made salacious comments and talked about his approach to hitting on women.

The three minute video released by the "Washington Post" was recorded when he was speaking to TV host Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood" before he was to appear on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives." Trump is heard talking about hitting on an unknown married woman, who he took furniture shopping.

"I moved on her and I failed, I'll admit it. I did try and f--- her, she was married," said Trump, who at the time was married.  "I moved on her like a b----."

The Republican presidential candidate said he was automatically attracted to beautiful women and he just can't help himself from kissing them.

"When you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p----. You can do anything," he is heard saying.

In a videotaped apology released by the campaign after midnight in New York, Trump said "I said it. I'm wrong. I apologize." He said he pledged "to be a better man" but also called the video a "distraction" from political problems. 

 "People who know me know this isn't me," he said, adding that he had changed, and the story about the comments he made was "nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we are facing today."

The release of the video comes a month before the November 8 election, in which Trump has been accused of denigrating women, most recently with a series of comments about a former beauty queen.

Hillary Clinton responded to the video on Twitter by calling the comments "horrific."

 

cw,jm/bw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)