WASHINGTON—Today DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued the following statement:

“Today, Donald Trump is actually trying to explain away his well-documented, decades-long history of degrading women with the weakest defense in the book: it was just a joke. But women aren’t laughing. They know that Trump’s misogyny is more than a show-business ploy for attention, as he likes to claim. His casual sexism represents his real-world views, the same outlook we see reflected in the policies and priorities of many Republican Party leaders. Our country deserves better. We need more leaders who understand that when women succeed, America succeeds.”