Mitt Romney said Saturday that he was “offended and dismayed” by the vulgar comments Donald Trump made about women in a leaked video Friday, and defended the Republican Party as as a group that loves “all the people in this country.”
Appearing at a campaign event for Senate candidate Joe Heck in Las Vegas on Saturday, Romney blasted Trump’s “offensive language” and “offensive conduct” in a 2005 conversation, caught by a hot mic, that was published by the Washington Post.
“I want to express on the behalf of myself and my party how much we love all the people in this country, regardless of gender or ethnicity or religion — and I was offended and dismayed by what was said and done by Mr. Trump,” Romney said.
“I think it’s degrading to our women, to our daughters, our granddaughters, to future generations,” the 2012 Republican presidential nominee continued. “I dearly hope that we will come together as a nation and stand as firmly as we possibly can for the principles that have made us the shining city on a hill.”
Romney first commented on the leaked tape Friday evening on Twitter, where he said, “Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world.”
Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 8, 2016
Romney has long been a Republican opponent of Trump’s candidacy, most notably when he called the billionaire businessman a “phony” and a “fraud” in March.
