PRESIDENTIAL RACE | Some Republican officials stick with Trump, cite the issues

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some key Republican officeholders and candidates reaffirmed their support for Donald Trump today despite new allegations from women that he groped and assaulted them.

The Republicans argued that Trump would still be better on key issues like energy and the Supreme Court than Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"Asked and answered like 10 times in the last week and the answer's still the same," said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is running for re-election, when pressed by reporters about Trump. "As long as the choice is Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton ... Hillary Clinton will not change the Obamacare disaster, the out of control regulators or our terrible foreign policy. I think with a Republican Congress, that he may be able to do that."

Said West Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole, president of the state Senate: "You have one candidate who wants to be there for our coal and our natural gas industry, and another one that wants to destroy them."

"I was offended by what he said. But the choice is so clear: If we're going to move West Virginia forward, we have to have Donald Trump in the White House," Cole added. "We have to, to open our opportunities with coal and natural gas in the state."

During a campaign debate tonight, North Carolina GOP Sen. Richard Burr said he accepts Trump's statements that he didn't commit sexual assault and still supports Trump politically because he's worried more about Clinton's "lack of judgment."

Strikingly, there was scant evidence today of any additional GOP defections from Trump's campaign.