Melania Trump: Donald Was 'Egged On' into 'Boys Talk'

Wife of presidential nominee Donald Trump, Melania Trump, took to defending both her husband and herself on CNN Monday in an interview with Anderson Cooper.

In response to the controversial Access Hollywood tape released by The Washington Post in which Donald and former show host Billy Bush joked about sexual assault-type behaviors off-camera, Melania told Anderson that she thought her husband was "egged on" into "boy talk" by Bush.

She told Cooper she was "surprised" to hear Donald's comments. "I don't know that person," she said.

In terms of the sexual assault allegations, Melania wants proof. "This was all organized from the opposition. And with the details ... did they ever check the background of these women? They don't have any facts."

Melania specifically addressed the allegations against Trump made by People writer Natasha Stoynoff, who she told Cooper she did not even know. "She wrote in the same story about me -- that she saw me on 5th Avenue, and I said to her, 'Natasha, how come we don't see you anymore?' I was never friends with her, I would not recognize her."

In defending her husband, Melania called Donald "real," "raw" and "a gentleman." She emphasized the media's slandering of Trump, and wants the American people to focus on "the issues."

"I know he respects women," she told Cooper. "He wants to secure the borders, he wants to secure America, he wants to bring jobs back, he wants to bring economy back, and he's very passionate about American people, because he knows he can do that. He's a worker, he's a fighter, he is, he's very passionate about it, and he will not give up, he will fight till the end, and he will fight for American people as he's fighting now for himself."

In terms of the message she wants to impart upon America, the "negativity" of social media is her number one target. When Cooper pressed her on her husband's frequent tweeting, she told him that she encourages him to think before posting: "I give him many advices...but sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn't."

During the last presidential debate, Donald Trump accused moderator Cooper of unfairness when handling the candidates' response time. Trump supporters have also come out in swarms on social media and attacked Cooper, who is openly gay, with homophobic slurs following the St. Louis debate.

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