First lady Michelle Obama delivered an emotional speech Thursday responding to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s treatment of women.
Obama said the recently released audio recording of Trump bragging about sexual assault “has shaken me to my core” in remarks at a New Hampshire campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The first lady offered a full-throated takedown of Trump, calling his words and actions “cruel” and “frightening.”
“Strong men, men who are truly role models, don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful,” Obama said.
Read the full remarks, as transcribed by the White House, below:
So I’m going to get a little serious here, because I think we can all agree that this has been a rough week in an already rough election. This week has been particularly interesting for me personally because it has been a week of profound contrast.
See, on Tuesday, at the White House, we celebrated the International Day of the Girl and Let Girls Learn. And it was a wonderful celebration. It was the last event that I’m going to be doing as First Lady for Let Girls Learn. And I had the pleasure of spending hours talking to some of the most amazing young women you will ever meet, young girls here in the U.S. and all around the world. And we talked about their hopes and their dreams. We talked about their aspirations. See, because many of these girls have faced unthinkable obstacles just to attend school, jeopardizing their personal safety, their freedom, risking the rejection of their families and communities.