Newly published accusations that Donald Trump groped or inappropriately kissed women rocked the race for the White House, with the Republican nominee angrily denying the reports and his campaign branding them "character assassination".
The claims came to light after he said in Monday's presidential debate with rival Hillary Clinton that he had never assaulted women.
Trump's denial came as he tried to set his campaign back on track after a video recording from 2005 surfaced on Saturday in which the 70-year-old real estate mogul is heard making lewd boasts about how his celebrity meant he could grope women with impunity.
Trump has apologised for the comments, dismissing it as "locker-room" banter.
With just 26 days until the November 8 election, and Democrat Clinton in the driver's seat with national polls in her favour, the embattled Republican nominee had sought to get back on the offensive.
"This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, co-ordinated character assassination against Mr Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," senior communicators advisor Jason Miller said in a statement.The Trump campaign quickly fired back at a New York Times article - which alleged Trump groped one woman on a flight in the early 1980s and kissed a receptionist at a real estate company in Trump Tower in 2005 - saying it was a political attack.
"To reach back decades in an attempt to smear Mr Trump trivialises sexual assault, and it sets a new low for where the media is willing to go in its efforts to determine this election."
Trump angrily told the Times: "None of this ever took place." He went on to call the reporter a "disgusting human being".
Trump travelled to Florida yesterday for two rallies, where he ramped up his attacks on Clinton, calling her a criminal who "has to go to jail" for endangering national security by using a private email account while Secretary of State.
He also took aim at Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have abandoned him following the hot-mic revelations.
Clinton, meanwhile, campaigned in Colorado and Nevada, where she ignored questions about the New York Times article shouted by pool reporters.
"America is better than what Donald Trump says and represents," the former first lady had said earlier in Pueblo, Colorado.
But her campaign issued a statement that said: "This disturbing story sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women."
Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri said: "These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words."
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