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Donald Trump's October Surprise is so explicit, shocking, offensive and vile that even he felt the need to apologize -- defiantly.

In a video released after midnight Saturday, Trump expressed regret for stunning comments that surfaced Friday about women.

"Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am," he said. "I said it. I was wrong. And I apologize."

"Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims," Trump said. "We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday."

Trump's candidacy has revealed a long history of demeaning and shaming women. But the comments that emerged Friday go further than anything that has been attributed to him before as he seemed to bask in the power he felt his celebrity conferred to do whatever he wanted with women.

The bombshell couldn't come at a worse time for Trump's campaign as he prepares for the next debate against Clinton. And Republicans must now decide whether to stand by him or cut him loose just 32 days before the election.

The debate, co-moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper, is especially crucial because Trump botched his first match with Clinton and then spent the next two weeks in a cycle of recrimination, denial and feud with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

The political uproar over the latest revelation was so momentous that it overtook coverage of a hurricane lashing Florida and a stunning US government accusation of a Russian hacking operation to disrupt the elections.

It has been one of the cliches of the 2016 presidential race that Trump can get away with comments and outrages that would sink any normal politician. But the video tests the limits of that assumption in a way unlike any of Trump's many previous controversies.

"I moved on her and I failed. I'll admit it," Trump said. "I did try and fuck her. She was married."

"I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married," Trump adds, after saying he took the woman -- who is identified only by her first name -- out furniture shopping.

"Then all of a sudden I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look," Trump says of the woman.

Before Trump stepped off a bus, he and Bush appear to see a soap actress who greets them.

"Whoa!" Trump says. "I've gotta use some tic tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- 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 pussy. You can do anything," Trump says.

Trump advisers huddled in Trump Tower Friday night to plot a path forward. They clearly knew they had a problem on their hands when they moved quickly to release a statement that bizarrely blamed Bill Clinton after the Post published its story.

"This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended," Trump said.

There were signs that Trump's campaign was in disarray as some of his aides expressed exasperation in unusually blunt terms.

"It's appalling. It's just flat out appalling," a Trump adviser said.

The stunning developments are forcing a moment of reckoning for Republican Party leaders who have made a pact with a nominee many of them privately view as vulgar and unacceptable, and must now decide whether to cut him loose.

Trump was due to appear alongside Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker both pillars of the conservative movement on Saturday. Ryan didn't withdraw his endorsement of Trump Friday but he did condemn the nominee and said Trump will no longer attend the event.

"I am sickened by what I heard today," Ryan said in a statement. "Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified. I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than this clip suggests. In the meantime, he is no longer attending tomorrow's event in Wisconsin."

Every Republican office holder from GOP vice presidential pick Mike Pence who often calls Trump "this good man" -- to vulnerable senators running for re-election will now face the same question: How can you stand with a nominee who would say such a thing?

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican running for re-election who stumbled this week over the question of whether Trump represented a good role model for children, quickly condemned Trump's statement.

"His statements are totally inappropriate and offensive," Ayotte said.

Sen. Pat Toomey, a vulnerable Pennsylvania Republican, tweeted that Trump's comments were "outrageous and unacceptable."

Trump's possible implosion also appeared to validate the central theme of Clinton's campaign that a man like Trump with a colorful personal past, a life lived in the tabloids and a runaway mouth is simply not fit to be president.

Clinton and her top surrogates have been driving a narrative for months that the Republican nominee lacks the gravity, knowledge and character to sit in the Oval Office or to represent the United States overseas.

It was a case that appeared to be gaining traction given Trump's outspoken comments about Mexicans, women, Muslims and other sectors of society.

Trump's most loyal supporters sought to shrug off the latest controversy.

"We're not choosing a Sunday school teacher," Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager who is now a CNN contributor, told Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "We're electing a leader to the free world."

The controversy is likely to hammer Trump's standing among crucial demographics who may decide the election on November 8.

Trump had already busted established standards on rhetoric about women in this campaign, questioning last year after a tough debate whether moderator Megan Kelly was menstruating and having his words that some women were "pigs" and "slobs" thrown back at him by Clinton in the first debate.

But the revelations in the hot mic moment will surely doom any hope the GOP nominee has of improving his standing among women voters, especially highly educated, suburban women in swing states like Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine, campaigning in Las Vegas, said Trump's comments "makes me sick to my stomach."

Trump's aides across the country seemed to feel similarly.

Asked about the reaction at a campaign field office, a Trump field staffer told CNN there were "gasps. Collective gasps. We're trying to get our heads around it right now, but there's no way to spin this. There just isn't."

The staffer, who is also paying close attention to Senate efforts, also added, unsolicited: "Just think of the down-ballot effect. Brutal."

A GOP operative in Ohio voiced similar sentiments.

"This is bad. I think this thing is over," the staffer said.

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Can Donald Trump recover from this? - CNNPolitics.com

Mr. Pence said in a statement that he was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the video, and cast Mr. Trumps second debate with Hillary Clinton, on Sunday, as an urgent moment to turn around the campaign.

In a 2005 recording obtained by The Washington Post, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, talks about women in vulgar terms to Billy Bush, then the host of Access Hollywood.

I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them, Mr. Pence said, adding, We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night.

By Saturday evening, no fewer than 36 Republican members of Congress and governors who had not previously ruled out supporting Mr. Trump disavowed his candidacy, an unprecedented desertion by the institutional Republican Party of its own standard-bearer just a month before Election Day.

The growing wall of opposition recalled the determination of the party establishment this year to deny Mr. Trump the nomination in the first place. He easily swatted away that effort, but Mr. Trump now finds himself in a far more precarious state. Facing a more vast and diverse electorate, his lightly organized campaign was already listing before the videotape was released.

Aides described Mr. Trump as shaken, watching news coverage of the video with a mix of disbelief and horror. Shortly after midnight, he had released a videotaped statement, saying, Ive said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them.

In a brief telephone interview on Saturday, he shrugged off the calls to leave, saying he would never drop out of this race in a million years.

I havent heard from anyone saying I should drop out, and that would never happen, never happen, Mr. Trump said. Thats not the kind of person I am. I am in this until the end.

Far from sounding rattled, Mr. Trump insisted that he could still prevail in November.

Oh, yeah, we can win we will win, he said. We have tremendous support. I think a lot of people underestimate how loyal my supporters are.

A couple of hours later, the campaign released a statement from his wife, Melania. The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me, she said. This does not represent the man that I know.

I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world, she said.

But the situation had grown so dire that many in the party were all but pleading with him to withdraw and let Mr. Pence serve as the presidential nominee. On Saturday afternoon, Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the chairman of the Republican Conference, became the most senior Republican to call on Mr. Trump to make way for Mr. Pence.

The exodus began late Friday night when a handful of Utah Republicans who said they would support Mr. Trump indicated that they could no longer tolerate their nominee.

But it was not until a pair of conservative women, Representatives Barbara Comstock of Virginia and Martha Roby of Alabama, implored Mr. Trump to withdraw that previously hesitant Republicans stepped forward to reject Mr. Trumps candidacy.

Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire was the first Republican senator facing a competitive re-election to say she would no longer back Mr. Trump, announcing in a statement that she would write in Mr. Pence for president instead.

Im a mom and an American first, and I cannot and will not support a candidate for president who brags about degrading and assaulting women, she wrote on Twitter.

Ms. Ayotte was joined just hours later by Mr. McCain, who is also running for re-election, and Representative Joe Heck of Nevada, who is locked in a close race for the Senate seat now held by Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, who is retiring.

It was an admission that Mr. Trump now posed an immediate threat to their own candidacies and that, to have any chance to survive, they had to risk angering his ardent supporters. At a party gathering on Saturday in Wisconsin, Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who had disinvited Mr. Trump and said he was sickened by the video, was greeted with a few boos, and Mr. Heck was both jeered and applauded when he announced to a crowd in Nevada that he was not backing the presidential nominee.

Mr. Ryan told his crowd he would not be discussing the elephant in the room, the 2005 video showing a bus that had Mr. Trump aboard, and included an audio recording of him privately bantering with other men.

Mr. Trump, then newly married to Ms. Trump, crassly boasted about groping womens genitals, vulgarly commented on their bodies and generally described women as sex objects who could not resist his advances.

In his video statement released early Saturday, Mr. Trump said: Anyone who knows me knows these words dont reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.

I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never, ever let you down, he added, before ending the message with a promise to bring up the sex scandals of Bill Clintons presidency and Hillary Clintons response to them.

Inside Trump Tower, though, Mr. Trumps defiant public responses belied the reality of a 24-hour period in which he was alternately angry and distressed, according to two people with direct knowledge of his behavior who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Hillary Clinton has an 83% chance of winning the presidency.

Mr. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, initially expressed skepticism upon hearing that such a recording existed, saying those comments did not sound like him. When Mr. Trump heard the tape played, he acknowledged it was him, but he believed the fallout would not be dramatic.

Mr. Pence, however, was dismayed, and called into Trump headquarters on Friday night to urge Mr. Trump to apologize.

On Saturday morning, Mr. Pence called Mr. Trump and told him he had to handle the next 48 hours alone because he did not think he would be an effective surrogate.

Mr. Trump, after monitoring television coverage, realized he was becoming isolated by his party.

Mr. Trumps aides did not explicitly ask top advisers and allies to do their usual defense of Mr. Trumps comments, according to one person briefed on the discussions, but they did ask people to stand by his side. A few supporters did, including Ben Carson; the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham; and Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the wealthy father and daughter who are perhaps Mr. Trumps most important backers, and who said in a statement that they considered the video locker room braggadocio.

America is finally fed up and disgusted with its political elite, they said. Trump is channeling this disgust, and those among the political elite who quake before the boombox of media blather do not appreciate the apocalyptic choice that America faces on Nov. 8.

Two of Mr. Trumps most prominent supporters Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York went to Trump Tower around noon to huddle with Mr. Trump and try to get in some debate preparation.

In the afternoon, more damaging news hit the web and cable television, with a CNN report on the numerous lewd and tasteless comments he had made over the years on The Howard Stern Show.

CreditStephen Crowley/The New York Times

Just before 5 p.m., Mr. Trump emerged for about five minutes, briskly striding through his gilded lobby to a waiting crowd of supporters on the sidewalk. He pumped his right fist in the air as fans surrounded him.

Hundred percent, Mr. Trump told reporters who yelled questions about whether he would stay in the race.

Mr. Pence flew from Indianapolis to a fund-raising event in Rhode Island, where he told supporters that the election was about more than one man, said Joseph A. Trillo, the chairman of Mr. Trumps campaign in the state. Over hors doeuvres in a Newport mansion, Mr. Pence offered a pep talk without making direct mention of the days dire events.

He used the terminology that its a movement and its bigger than Donald Trump, Mr. Trillo said.

At the same time, leading Republicans were demanding that the Republican National Committee, which has been helping the Trump campaign financially and organizationally, abandon Mr. Trump and turn its attention to salvaging other candidates down the ballot.

Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania, said the committee should no longer defend the indefensible.

He called on Reince Priebus, the party chairman, to force Mr. Trump off the ticket or face the consequences.

The chairman of the R.N.C. must look out for the good of the party as a whole, so he should be working to get him to step down, Mr. Dent said. If he cant, then he should step down.

The committee remained silent on Saturday as members of Congress began fleeing from Mr. Trump, not responding to news media inquiries and, senior Republican officials said, not coordinating with other campaign organizations. However, one senior Republican official said Mr. Priebus was deeply distressed. He went to Trump Tower in the afternoon to talk to Mr. Trump.

Powerful donors and business interests signaled that they would redirect their attention to down-ballot candidates. Republican power brokers had hoped until recently that Mr. Trump might make a credible showing in the presidential election, aiding the party in its other crucial races.

But Republicans now say that their worst fears have come to pass, as Mr. Trump has unraveled in a series of missteps after his first debate with Mrs. Clinton.

Even before Mr. Trumps 2005 comments came to light, internal Republican polling showed him losing ground among three groups that had long been wary of his candidacy: independents, women, and voters with college degrees.

That slide is likely to accelerate now, Republicans said, potentially sending voters fleeing toward Democrats or convincing them that they should stay home on Nov. 8. Either outcome would be ruinous for Republican candidates beyond the presidential race.

It will be difficult in the extreme for him to recover from this, but the biggest impact is likely to be its effect on all the down-ballot races, said Fred Malek, the finance chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who called Mr. Trumps comments beyond disgusting.

If they pull the plug on support for Trump, he said, the vast majority of voters will certainly understand that and most will respect it.

Jonathan Martin reported from Washington, and Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman from New York. Ashley Parker and Patrick Healy contributed reporting from New York, and Thomas Kaplan from Indianapolis.

Find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via Facebook, Twitter and the First Draft newsletter.

A version of this article appears in print on October 9, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Lewd Trump Tape Is Breaking Point for Many in G.O.P.

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Lewd Donald Trump Tape Is a Breaking Point for Many in the G ...

The videotape of Donald Trump that is shaking up the presidential election sat forgotten on a shelf at NBC's "Access Hollywood" until just a few days ago.

On Monday, according to an NBC source, one of the entertainment newsmagazine's producers remembered Trump's 2005 taping session with former "Access" co-host Billy Bush.

Trump's offensive comments about Alicia Machado were still making waves. And the Associated Press had just published a detailed story quoting former "Apprentice" employees saying Trump "was lewd and sexist" while taping the reality show.

With that in mind, a producer dug up the tape.

By mid-week, executive producer Rob Silverstein and his producing team had taken a look at its contents, and discovered that among other things it included a moment in which Trump told Bush, "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

It also included Trump saying he once tried and failed to have sex with Nancy O'Dell, who was Bush's co-host at the time.

After reviewing the tape, "we were debating what to do" with it, an NBC source explained.

By Friday morning, Silverstein had decided to broadcast it, and a script had been written. The story was not slated to air on Friday night's edition of the show, however.

That means the earliest it would have aired is Monday night -- after Sunday's presidential debate.

Another NBC source confirmed that "Access" was working on a story, and that NBC News knew about it, but said that as of Friday morning the story "wasn't quite finalized."

That's when Silverstein was notified that David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post had come into possession of a copy.

Fahrenthold, who has been reporting for months on Trump's charitable donations and the Trump Foundation, was contacted around 11 a.m. on Friday by a source who told him about the footage, according to a Post story about how he got this scoop.

Fahrenthold asked NBC for comment about the tape around noon Eastern time. The producers at "Access," which is based in California, were blindsided by Fahrenthold's call.

According to the Post, Farenthold knows the identity of the person who leaked the video to him, but will not disclose it.

Sources at NBC believe someone inside NBC downloaded the footage from one of the network's video servers. The tape was accessible internally since the "Access" story was already in the works.

Silverstein told Page Six on Friday afternoon, "I don't know who leaked it. I have no idea."

After the Post called NBC for comment, NBC News staff hurried to finish a story about it. So did the "Access" staff.

On Friday night's edition of the newsmagazine, co-host Natalie Morales reported on the tape, linking it to Monday's investigation by The A.P.

Morales also noted that Trump has appeared on the show "hundreds of times" over the years.

"In the course of reporting on Mr. Trump, we have reviewed much of our own footage," she said.

So does "Access" have other tapes of Trump speaking in vulgar terms? One of the NBC sources said, "Not that I know of."

O'Dell and "Entertainment Tonight," the show she now co-anchors, both declined to comment. But Brad Bessey, the former executive producer of "Entertainment Tonight," said in a tweet that O'Dell is "is classy, beautiful, family-focused, intelligent & a great journalist. Above the sexist objectification of @realDonaldTrump."

CNNMoney (New York) First published October 7, 2016: 7:18 PM ET

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How the shocking hot mic tape of Donald Trump was exposed ...

Just days before the second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the Republican nominee ventured to New Hampshire for a test run of sorts. He hosted an invitation-only town hall in Sandown.

Though the idea of a town hall, just days but the second presidential debate, had all the trappings of debate prep, Trump insisted that it was not.

"And by the way they were saying, this is practice for Sunday, this isnt practice, this has nothing to do with Sunday, we are just here, because we just wanted to be here," he said. "And you know, Hillary, frankly, they talk about debate prep, this is not debate prep, shes resting. Shes resting. And I want to be with the American people, I want to be with the people from New Hampshire, and she wants to rest.

Trump, while discussing his recent trip to Nevada, took time to share with the crowd at the Sandown Town Hall what he learned about Hispanic-Americans.

"I just got back from Las Vegas, where we gave a tremendous, I mean we had a tremendous crowd of people, lot of Hispanics, Latinos they like to be called in that area, you know that, right? Hispanics and Latinos.

But, he eventually pivoted back to the debate, answering a questioner who asked if Trump held back during the first debate.

"Yeah, I did hold back, I thought it was just inappropriate to say what I was really thinking I would say. And I held back, I think for- I think for a good reason, I think for a good reason. I much rather have it be on policy. And I didnt like getting into the-- into the gutter and so I did hold back."

In advance of Sundays debate, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on "Good Morning America" today that Trump has been watching tapes of his last matchup with Clinton as part of his debate prep.

"Well, he learned from those tapes that he was trying to answer the questions as they were asked. Mrs. Clinton was there really trying to get out the five or six zingers she had rehearsed for a number of days. So this time, I think that Donald Trump, in a town hall format, it's one he's very comfortable," she said.

Other aides tell ABC News that the format will allow Trump to visually focus on the audience rather than home in on Clinton and constantly feel the need to have the last word.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who, as a presidential candidate, was known for his virtual omnipresence at New Hampshire town halls has been increasingly involved in Trump's debate practice and was present at Thursdays town hall.

"Gov. Christie is helpful because he's done more than 130 town halls," said Conway.

After the debate with Clinton, several senior Trump staffers were frustrated with his inability to execute on the debate stage. One of them told ABC News that Trump "lost his nerve." Preparation for this debate has included rounds of rapid-fire questions and attempts to utilize more one-line attacks.

But tonight, when Trump said this was not debate prep, he seemed to be right. Supporters were pre-selected and virtually all were Trump supporters who asked friendly questions.

Watch FULL LIVE COVERAGE of the second presidential debate, co-moderated by ABC News Martha Raddatz, at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 9. Coverage and analysis of the debate will begin on ABCNews.com/Live at 7 p.m. ET.

ABC News' John Santucci contributed to this report.

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Donald Trump Prepares for Second Debate With Test Run

Every year they audit me, audit me, audit me, an exasperated Donald Trump said at a primary debate in February. His personal federal income taxes, he claimed, had been audited by the Internal Revenue Service for more than a decade.

But the cause for his chagrin also offered Trump an escape hatch. He said he would not publicly release his returns until the audit was complete.

I cant do it until the audit is finished, obviously. And I think people would understand that, he said.

Its a position Trump has clung to formonths. But what is there to understand exactly?

There is no law prohibiting someone from making his own tax information public (audit or no audit), nor one compelling presidential candidates to release them. Yet every major party presidential candidate has since 1976.

Trumps refusal to release his returns may buck precedent, but his non-disclosure goes even further. Trump wont provide proof hes actually under audit.

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A CBS News poll finds 59 percent of voters say Hillary Clinton has the right temperament to be president, and 63 percent say she is prepared for ...

Taxpayers under audit receive a phone call or letter from the Internal Revenue Service informing them their returns are under review. Anyone notified by phone also receives the letter that says in part, Your federal income tax return for the year shown above has been selected for examination. We examine tax returns to verify the correctness of income, deductions, exemptions, and credits.Heres asamplefrom the IRS website.

Some filers are asked foradditionalfinancial documents like canceled checks or receipts. The IRS uses examination and audit interchangeably.

Trumps tax return could reveal unflattering information for someone who has built a reputation and presidential run heralding his extreme wealth. It would show his annual income, tax rate, and how much he gives to charity.

But the IRS notification letter is a different story -- itwould not likely do anypolitical damage to Trumps candidacy. Theform merely contains the taxpayers name, address, social security number (which could be redacted) and a generic reason for the audit.

Four emails to Trumps campaign seeking thisIRS letter yielded no reply. In response to another inquiry, spokeswoman Hope Hicks pointed to anotherletter- one written by Sheri Dillon and William Nelson, tax attorneys representing Trump.

Dillon and Nelson wrote Trumps inordinately large and complex returns have been under continuous examination by the IRS since 2002. The returns from 2002-2008 had been closed administratively, but the examination, they wrote, from 2009 year and forward are ongoing.

It does not specify which years returns after 2009 are being examined.

The letter also said entries in the 2002-2008 returns --even though those audits are closed --could impact the returns currently under an open examination. This likely means that Trump has so-called carry-forwards from those years that could affect his tax liability in 2009 and beyond. The New York Times over the weekend revealed that Trumps personal tax returnsdeclared a loss of $916 million in incomein 1995, and that massive loss could be carried forward to lower or cancel out his income taxes for 18 years.

Trump told the Washington Post in May he would not release any returns from 2002 on regardless of audit status - because theyre all linked.

While theres no reason to doubt the veracity of his attorneys letter, Dillon and Nelson did not respond to an emailed inquiry (nor provide any IRS documentation).

Their letter, dated March 7, 2016, does not specify if Trumps 2015 returns are under audit. It is unlikely that his 2015 return would have been filed by early March, according to a tax expert, and even less likely that the IRS would have notified Trump of an audit by then.

Wednesday on CNN, Jason Miller, a communications advisor to Trump, was asked if he could produce the audit letter.

Mr. Trump has made very clear that hes under audit, and those paperworks (sic) will go back to the lawyers and the accountants--, Miller said before trailing off.

Well, were taking him at his word. Is there -- can you produce some evidence that he is, in fact, being audited? anchor Alisyn Camerota asked.

Miller replied: Well, Ill leave that to the lawyers and the accountants as far as what exactly is public and what exactly is private.

Last month, IRS commissioner John Koskinen appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.

Theres no restriction by the IRS, Koskinen testified, after being asked if there is any law that prevents a person from publicly disclosing an IRS audit notification.

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Is Donald Trump actually under audit? - CBS News