COLUMBUS – At appearances in Columbus and Cincinnati Thursday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defended himself against the sexual accusations that have rocked his campaign.
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Trump told a group of young voters at an event at a downtown Columbus hotel Thursday afternoon that the accusations were “false claims,” and said that media has “slandered and lied about me with false accusations.”
He said he, “never met these people” and added he doesn’t “know who they are.” Trump said his accusers have “made up stories.”
Trump has threatened to sue the New York Times for printing the claims of two women. Earlier Thursday in Florida, he accused the press of coordinating with Hillary Clinton’s campaign to “conspire” against his White House bid.
Later Thursday, he told a cheering crowd of more than 10,000 people at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati that the claims of sexual assault and the release of a video in which he is heard bragging about groping and kissing women without their permission is intended to distract voters.
“They want to distract us from WikiLeaks…they want to keep us from talking about the issues. We will not let that happen,” Trump said.
WikiLeaks has release private emails from Clinton campaign staffers this week that include comments about conservatives, Catholics and evangelicals which Republicans have pounced on and called bigoted.
Meanwhile, there are encouraging signs for Donald Trump in Ohio, a vital state but a victory here would be only one of many steps he would need to win.
At least 758,000 ballots have already been cast in Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and other states where early voting is underway.
Even if Trump can capture two states he’s targeted — Pennsylvania and Ohio — he would need to pull off major upsets in multiple Democratic-leaning states to reach the 270 electoral votes.