How will clinton respond on the debate stage . Dnc chair Donna Brazile is here. Just 30 days to go. A critical debate only hours away. The oval office hanging in the balance. From abc news, its this week. Here now chief anchor george stepha stephanopoulos. It turns out october is full of surprises. 3 votes hour away from tonights debate this Unusual Campaign is in unchattered waters again. Dozens of elected officials, senators, governors, members of congress abandoning their partys nominee. It all began late friday when the washington posting unearthed this disturbing video. Donald trump and broadcaster billy bush on the set of days 2005. I moved on her and i failed. Ill admit it. She was married. I got to use some tick tacks just in case i start kissing her. I just start kissing them like a magnet. Just kiss. And when youre a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. Do anything. Hello. How are you . Hi. Nice to pete you. Terrific. How about a hug for the donald. He just g melania said this was okay. A written statement from trump apologizing if anyone was offended only fueled the firestorm. Midnight friday under pressure from his top advisers and running mate trump posted this on facebook. Anyone who knows me knows these words dont reflect who i am. I said it, i was wrong and i apologize. Ive said some foolish things but theres a big difference between the words and actions of women and hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. Too little too late. The reaction swift and brutal. All through saturday a cascade of condemnation from Top Republicans. 14 republican senators saying they wont vote for trump or want him out of the race including five of the six gop women and former nominee john mccain. At least 25 gop members now rejecting House Speaker paul ryan said hes sickened. Disinvited trump from a rally. When ryan appeared he got scattered boos from trump supporters. Vp nominee mike pence refused to defend trump and Something Else we have never seen before. A nominee rebuked by his own running mate. As a husband and father he said i was offended by the words and actions described by donald trump in the 11yearold video the scene at trump tower chaotic and tense. The top advisers in for damage control inside his penthouse, trump defiant telling the wall street journal theres zero chance hell quit. Ive never withdrawn in my life. The New York Times, i am in this until the end. By early saturday evening after watching the crowds gather on cable tv trump went downstairs from a fix from his fans. Story. Lets begin with jon karl. Jon this is described by Top Republicans as the worst crisis for the party since watergate. That cascade of republicans includes etlekted officials from the south, the west, tea party republicans, the full spectrum of the Republican Party and george, i expect that we will see many more after this debate. Leaders including Party ChairmanReince Priebus, paul ryan, have not fully gone out and said they no longer support trump but a disastrous performance in this debate or one that does not put the doubts to rest will lead to many more including some leaders to flee trump as well. They want to see a full apology from trump tonight, no excuses at all. A lot of pressure on mike pence as well. Even a move among some republicans pence if trump doesnt go all the way for an apologize to resign to force trumps hand. The argument is pence is the anchor keeping trump in the race. If pence were to make a big statement by dropping out of the race leaving the ticket it would put incredible pressure on trump to get out of the race. Theres no indication that pence will do that but ill tell you, if this does not go well tonight out the possibility that mike pence would do just that, he would leave the ticket. As a practical matter its impossible for the rnc to replace donald trump at this point. He has to step aside. Even if he steps aside its going to create a mess on stat ballot after state ballot. There are now a dozen states where voting has already started. Where people have already started casting their ballots. Several other states where absentee ballots that have Donald Trumps name in the republican slot. It would be a disaster, a mess. By the way, the Clinton Campaign would object. The voting has started. They would not allow a last minute switch. In fact, you may see a situation where the two people absolutely insisting that donald trump has to stay in the race and on the ballot are one, donald trump and the other, Hillary Clinton. Jon, thanks. Well see you tonight. Lets go to tom llamas. Yesterday. Take us inside that suite. We know from sources they describe a dire feeling from friday into saturday. Trump was huddled with his tight aides along with Chris Christie and don jr. His son and trump tower turn into a war room. They were supposed to do debate prep but it was all damage control. Donald trump was watching cable news and sees his supporters outside and he goes outside, raises his fist in defiance. Making all the decisions right now in this campaign and the counteroffensive has started. We really dont know whats going to happen tonight at the debate. He signaled earlier in the week he wasnt going to go after bill clinton on the past infidelities. Back on the table . There was a divide in the campaign. Some did not want him to go there, others did. He mentioned bill clinton in his statement, in his video statement and retweeting all weekend. For me, no doubt this is coming up in the debate. How about trumps mood through all this. Ive also heard from others that he was kind of rocked by all this friday. It is true, at first from the reporting we have gotten from inside he didnt think this was going to be as big a scandal as it turned out to be. He was pitching his whole story of im the comeback kid before the video was released. Yesterday he told the New York Times he went outside, shook his fist, trying to tell his voters hes not going to give up. A lot riding on tonights debate. Lets go down to st. Louis. Iw debate inside the clinton camp whether she should Say Something yesterday. They decided the other way. Yeah. A very strategic move, george. We have not heard from Hillary Clinton herself on this front. Her campaign has tweeted, calling trumps words horrific and put out a fundraising email. It was jarring to see the comments in full display but nothing from Hillary Clinton herself, even her surrogates have been told to not go full theyre waiting for tonight for Hillary Clinton to take that stage face to face with donald trump. That is the first time we will hear from her on this topic. I got to tell you, george, its probably not going to be this one. It might seem like a lifetime ago this tax controversy was in the headlines. Just a few days ago. Remember the allegations he hasnt paid taxes in nearly two decades. You can bet shes going to hit hard on that. The strategic inside the clinton hit hard. As they watch all the republicans calling trump to step aside its also their worst nightmare. Yeah. It certainly is. Offand jon were talking about it. The last thing the Clinton Campaign wants is for a new opponent to be on this ticket in just 29 days to go. They have had conversations with their lawyers. They say they do not expect to be running against anyone other than donald trump george. Thanks cecilia. Thank you for joining us again this morning. As a father what was your reaction when you saw that tape . My reaction was the same im sure as everyone elses. Its horrible, reprehensible. You wish it never happened, never was said. And i think donald trump has expressed that very, very clearly, that hes ashamed of himself and embarrass after all, hes the father of two daughters and i think he has three he has eight grandchildren and three are girls. He certainly wouldnt want them to hear that or see that and some of them have. Hes very, very embarrassed and contrite about it and feels it was the wrong thing to do. That was then and this is now. And hes gone through 14 months of running for president and as you know running for president does something to you. Look at things, in which you behave and puts a heavy response abilities on your shoulder in this case for roughly half the American People who believe hes the one who can change america and his opponent is the person who will keep it the same or make it worse. You say its embarrassing to watch. The problem isnt just the words. As both senator mccain and Vice President biden pointed out what trump is describing in that tape is sexual assault. Thats what hes talking you know, whether it happened or not, i dont know. How much exaggeration was involved in that, i dont know. I do know theres a tendency on the part of some men at different times to exaggerate things like this. Im not in my way trying to excuse it or condone it. There is no excuse or answer for it other than im very sorry and i wish i hadnt done it and im not like that anymore. Confess your sins and make a Firm Resolution not to commit that sin again and then the priest gives you abs lugs and hopefully youre a changed person. We believe people in this country can change. You talk about the change. Let me stop you right there because i think what a lot of for a lot of people when they saw the tape it confirmed other things they had been seeing in the campaign after the last debate. The way he talked about Alicia Machado and megyn kelly in the first debate a y that was far different than this. That was the kind of language that goes on in campaigns and the kind of things that goes on in campaigns. Machado used as a prop at the very end of the debate. Even saturday night live made fun of it. They had the debate over and hillary interrupted and said i have to mention lisa machado. Thats far different than what you heard on that tape of 10, 12 i have to tell you that. But he also realizes that theres an election in 35 days and that election is going to determine whether we have higher taxes or lower taxes. Its going to determine how we deal with this rise in crime. Last year we had the largest rise in murder in 41 years. I mean thats astounding and over the last 10 months we have had more islamic terrorist attacks than any time since september 11th. Theyre becoming almost monthly events in major have the question is will he be able to make the case and can you assure republicans there arent more damaging tapes . I dont think anyone can assure anyone about anything. There are things that happen on our side and their side. Just the reality. If this hadnt happened you would be asking about the wikileaks and the fact that Hillary Clinton makes it clear to the bankers that she says one their side and with them but then shes got to say Something Else publicly. Had that come out during the democratic primary, Bernie Sanders would now be the candidate but she successfully. You may be right about that. Im going to ask Donna Brazile about that. But how about the republicans yesterday abandoning donald trump including senator mike lee. Donald trump said senator mike lee is on the short list for the supreme court. Heres what the senator said. If anyone spoke to my wife or my daughter of my five sisters the way mr. Trump has spoken to women, i wouldnt hire that person. I wouldnt hire that person, wouldnt want to be associated with that person. And i certainly dont think i would feel comfortable hiring that person to be the leader of the free world. What do you say to senator lee and all the republicans who abandoned the ticket yesterday . Well, you know, i understand why theyre shocked and i but, you know, i also think theres certain political calculation involved in some of that. Some pretty terrible things have come out about Hillary Clinton with regard to the emails and being extremely careless in the handling of National Security information and i could make the case Hillary Clinton couldnt pass a fbi background check. Thats not what the republicans are worried about right now. But the democrats all stick together and sticking with a candidate who looks like she violated a whole bunch of he said some very bad things 10, 12 years ago. Hes apologized for it. It seems to me we should move on. And the reality is to some extent he who has sin shouldnt cast the first stone. The big test is going to be tonight. A lot of perfect people. Speaker ryan signaling theyre going to be watching what donald trump is saying tonight. Even Vice President ial candidate if they dont hear a full throated apology they might go the way of these other republicans in the way of the ticket. I think donald trump understands that tonight is was always going to be very important and the stakes have gotten higher but i think hell be up to it and be able to hopefully will be able to get beyond his problems and her problems with wikileaks and a lot more i could talk about would like to know who is going to take more money out of my pocket. Who is going to be better able to handle radical islamic terrorism. The one who has in the condition were in or somebody new. Those are the things i want to hear. Particularly given my background i want to know who is going to have the better approach to stop this wave of crime that all of a sudden in the last year and half has gotten out of control. Percentage last year in 41 years and nobody being alarmed about that is a terrible mistake. Somebody better be alarmed about that and doing something about it and i think he will and she wont. Before this tape broke on friday, mr. Trump had signaled he wasnt going to go after bill clintons infidelities during the debate. But yesterday started to tweet about that again. Should we expect that kind of attack tonight . Depends on how the debate goes. I dont know. Theyre going to spend on the personal things and how much time theyre going to spend on the issues involved of which there are many, you know, trade, and what to do about syria and what to do about iraq and what to do about iran and crime and radical islamic terrorism, about cybersecurity which is to me a passion. I believe that cybersecurity and i have for 13 years is something were ignoring in this country the biggest threat to our National Security. These are the things i think the American People would like to hear and then i think they could make a judgment as to which one they want to lead the country. On that point both of them are flawed individuals. We know that. The question is lets get down to issues now and maybe we shouldnt be talking about it. Let met pick up on that cyber curt point. Friday the administration said russia was behind that dnc hack. Mr. Trump had questioned that before. Does he accept that finding now . I dont know. I dont know. I havent seen the report. I havent seen the background of it. Happens to be an area which i kind of fancy myself an expert. Ive been doing it for 13 years. I would have to read the report to give you my own opinion on that. But the reality is all it shows is if it isnt the russians it could be 20 others. The russians have the same heres the scariest part that a lot of the radical islamic terrorists have, al qaeda didnt have this capacity. This new islamic extremist threat were facing in 28 countries, 1,000 cases in the United States. These are people computer savvy and facing more danger from them than we faced before september 11th. Mike pence, theres a report this morning that hes being encouraged to temporarily step trumps hand to step aside as the nominee. Have you talked to the Vice President ial cant date about that . Im not aware of that. I havent heard that. I believe that donald trump is going to show up tonight and going to explain to people why hes remaining in the race. Im sure hes going to apologize again. Then move on to the things that the American People are going to have to decide in 34, 35 days before then . I believe he was definitive about the fact he is not going to drop out. Hes got the most votes of any candidate that was a republican ever in the history of the party. Hes got supporters who believe in him and who probably are more like most of the rest of us which are is forgiving and understanding and it is true we have two flawed candidates. You know something, i was taught in my relig flaw and we all have to ask for forgiveness in our lives and i sure have. Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you. We are joined by one of the members of congress trying to get trump off the ticket right now congressman charlie dent from pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman thank you for joining us. You heard mr. Giuliani donald trump is not going anywhere. Thanks for having me on the indefensible. We all have to condemn these comments in the strongest terms. Nobody should be surprised by whats happened here. We have been listening to these inflammatory comments for over a year now. From diminishing john mccains service as a pow to mocking the disabled to ethnic smears of mexicans and muslims, the indiana judge, the Miss Universe and her weight and now this. Look, will donald trump withdraw from the race . No. Should he . Yes. So i feel that we have to do something here. We have a Republican Party. We have to look out for the best interest of the whole party. We have congressional majorities at stake that have to be protected and lets get to do what we must. You have called on the gop chair Reince Priebus to take the lead. Away and said he couldnt come on to defend donald trump on this issue. Are you getting any signal from him or his team that hes prepared to take more ag