Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said Sunday that the Clinton campaign was "absolutely" not involved in compelling Donald Trump's accusers to come forward.
Instead, Kaine posited, Trump's declaration during the second presidential debate that he had never groped a woman against her will was "essentially the invitation" for women to come forward with charges of misconduct and assault.
Related: The Allegations Women Have Made Against Donald Trump
"These are folks who, frankly, saw Donald Trump look America in the face, when you and Anderson Cooper were engaging in the debate last Sunday night," Kaine told ABC's Martha Raddatz, who was one of the debate's moderators. "And when he was asked directly, 'Listen, you’re caught on tape saying the grossest stuff about the way you treat women, did you actually act that way?' And he didn’t want to answer the question, but you kept pressing and he eventually said, no, those were my words, but I didn’t act that way toward women."
The Republican nominee has pushed back against the allegations, both recent and resurfaced, calling them "totally invented, fiction, 100 percent totally and completely fabricated."
Trump has also sought to discredit his accusers by mocking their appearances, suggesting they were making claims for fame and theorizing that they had colluded with media outlets to sabotage him.
Kaine called Trump's defenses "bizarre."
"It’s not because of our campaign, but it’s very characteristic of Donald Trump that now he’s blaming these women," Kaine said. "He’s making weird claims that, no, I couldn’t have assaulted this person, she’s not attractive enough to assault. How bizarre is that. He’s blaming the media, he’s blaming the GOP, he’s saying that American can’t run a fair election. He is swinging at every phantom of his own imagination because he knows he’s losing."