Melania Trump: ‘My husband didn’t do anything’

NEW YORK — Melania Trump on Monday dismissed her husband’s sexually aggressive language as “boy talk,” insisting his remarks do not reflect “the man that I know,” and said she does not believe that he has assaulted any women.

Donald Trump’s wife, in a series of media interviews, said she has accepted her husband’s apology and the couple is “moving on.” The comments come more than a week after the release of a 2005 video in which Trump brags about kissing women and grabbing their genitals without their permission.

“I said to my husband that, you know, the language is inappropriate. It’s not acceptable. And I was surprised, because that is not the man that I know,” she told CNN.

She suggested t hat Trump may not have known his microphone was on, calling it “kind of a boy talk” that “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush was encouraging. And she suggested that the women who have claimed in recent days that Trump made unwanted advances were attention-seekers who were making “damaging and unfair” accusations.

“I believe my husband,” she said in the interview that aired Monday night. “My husband didn’t do anything.”

Melania Trump also said it is fair game for her husband to appear with women who have accused former President Bill Clin- ton of sexual assault, claiming the Democrats fired the first volley into the increasingly ugly war about the couples’ private lives.

“They’re asking for it. They started. They started from the beginning of the campaign putting my picture from modeling days,” she said in excerpts released by Fox News ahead of the i nterview’s broadcast. “That was my modeling days and I’m proud what I did. I worked very hard.”

Melania Trump’s image was used in a negative ad campaign during the Republican primary, but there is no evidence that the Clintons were involved. At the time, Donald Trump accused former rival Ted Cruz of being involved and responded by tweeting an unflattering image of the Texas senator’s wife. Cruz also denied involvement.

The interviews are Melania Trump’s first moments in the public eye since the accusations over the last 10 days that have sent her husband’s White House bid reeling.