NEW YORK (AA) – Embattled presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday dismissed as "ludicrous slanders" allegations of sexual assault he is facing.
"I never knew it would this vile, that it would be this bad, that it would be this vicious," he told supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“I take these slings and arrows gladly for you," the Republican nominee said, quoting William Shakespeare. “I take them for our movement so that we can have our country back."
Trump's comments were in reference to allegations of sexual assault against voiced in an article published by The New York Times on Wednesday, where two women told the paper that Trump touched them inappropriately.
The story came days after the release of an audio recording in which the nominee is heard making lewd comments about preying on and sexually assaulting women.
After the scandal broke, Trump, who was closing in on Clinton in the polls and even achieved a short-lived dead heat, fell nearly 10 points behind his rival.
There was more bad news Thursday for Trump as the campaign announced it was pulling out of the battleground state of Virginia, apparently deeming it a lost cause.
Corey Stewart, the state chairman for a Trump support group, called the news "very disappointing".
"I wish I had been wrong. Virginia remains winnable," Stewart said on Facebook. "Thousands of volunteers have spent countless hours knocking doors, calling voters, and raising money for Mr. Trump over the past 15 months."
In Florida, the largest swing state in the presidential race with a population of nearly 20 million people, voters are roughly equally divided along party lines.
In 2012, only 70,000 more votes separated Democrat Barack Obama from his Republican rival Mitt Romney.