Donald Trump campaign head says jail threat was a quip

The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):

8:55 a.m.

Mike Pence is standing by Donald Trump, saying he never considered leaving the Trump ticket.

Following the latest presidential debate, Pence said Monday that he believes Trump is sorry for the crude and predatory language about women captured in a 2005 video that became public last week.

Pence told Fox News that Trump “stepped up” during the debate: “He showed humility. He showed strength. He expressed genuine contrition for the words he had used” in the video.

He later told CNN that he never considered dropping off Trump’s ticket. He said: “It’s the greatest honor of my life.”

7:30 a.m.

Donald Trump’s campaign manager is walking back the Republican candidate’s threat during presidential debate to throw Hillary Clinton in jail if he is elected.

Kellyanne Conway said Monday that such a decision isn’t up to Trump. She said Trump’s threat “was a quip.”

Trump made the threat in Sunday’s debate, after Clinton said it’s good that someone with Trump’s temperament isn’t president. Trump responded: “Because you’d be in jail.”

Conway, speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” also stopped short of confirming Trump’s vow to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s email practices if he becomes president.

Conway said Trump was “channeling the frustration of thousands of voters he hears every day.”

3:30 a.m.

Donald Trump is leaving no doubt that he’ll spend the election’s final weeks dredging up decades-old sexual allegations against Hillary Clinton’s husband, even if it turns off voters whose support he desperately needs.

Faced with questions in Sunday’s debate about his own predatory remarks about women, Trump accused Bill Clinton of having been “abusive to women” and said Hillary Clinton attacked those women “viciously.” He declared the Democratic nominee had “tremendous hate in her heart.”

Clinton tried at times to take the high road, glossing over Trump’s charges and accusing him of trying to distract from his political troubles.

Indeed, Trump entered the debate facing enormous pressure from the Republican Party and even his own running mate.

Republished with permission of the Associated Press.