Melania Trump has said obscene comments caught on videotape by her husband were unacceptable but did not represent the Donald Trump she knows.

She said the Republican presidential nominee was guilty of “boy talk” but was egged on by host Billy Bush, reports the BBC.

In the video, Trump tells Bush, who was then host of NBC’s Access Hollywood, that he can force himself on women because he’s a star.

The tape prompted dozens of Republicans to drop their support for him.

Several women have since come forward and accused Trump of sexual assault, which he denies.

In an interview with CNN, her first since the scandal began, Mrs Trump defended her husband’s conduct with women, saying he had never behaved inappropriately over the years.

Women commonly approach him to give him their phone numbers, she said.

And on the 2005 videotape leaked to the media 10 days ago, she said, I said to my husband that, you know, the language was inappropriate. It’s not acceptable.

“And I was surprised, because that is not the man that I know.”

After the taped remarks became public, Mrs Trump issued a statement saying she found the words he spoke to be offensive but she accepted his apology.

Now she believes Billy Bush, who was fired by NBC over the tape, was the main culprit.

Trump, she said, “was led on like, egged on from the host to say dirty and bad stuff”.

With three weeks to go before Americans cast their vote, polls show Trump with considerable ground to make up on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in key battleground states.

BDST: 0921 HRS, OCT 18, 2016
NJ/SR