The cable news network stayed in live coverage beyond midnight awaiting a statement from Donald Trump apologizing for comments he made 11 years ago about his prowess with women. “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump said to Billy Bush as the two were taping a segment for Access Hollywood. “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
“I said it. I was wrong. And I apologize,” said Trump in a taped statement which appeared first on his Facebook page, and simulcast on MSNBC and CNN at 12:07 a.m. ET. Fox News was in Hurricane Matthew coverage, and aired the statement at 12:15 a.m.
Fox News’s John Roberts, who covers Trump, speculates the campaign saw the extended cable news coverage, which included playing the Access Hollywood clip multiple times, along with reporting about what the RNC might do, and reading statements from elected Republicans backing away from their support of Trump.
“I think they took a look and saw that we were on with coverage of Hurricane Matthew, as were some other networks and thought, ‘if we put this out at midnight we’ll actually get it on the air,'” said Roberts.
Here’s Trump’s statement: