Leaders in the Republican party have strongly condemned Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's 2005 predatory comments, which were made public when the Washington Post released a decade-old recording of him speaking with Billy Bush on Thursday. But some of Trump's closest allies have stayed noticeably quiet — and their silence certainly speaks volumes.

Washington Post - washingtonpost.com

Trump's running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence left an Ohio restaurant when the news broke, ditching his press pool before they could ask him about the story, Politico reports.

AP/Patrick Semansky - apimages.com

An anonymous source did tell the Associated Press that Pence was quite upset about the news, as was his wife.

Meanwhile, Trump's other close allies former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have been notably mum on the issue.

These particular politicians have been historically loyal to Trump, yet it remains profoundly troubling that Trump's vulgar, misogynistic invocations of sexual violence have yet to be addressed by these surrogates.

Marc Nozell / Flickr - flickr.com

A spokesperson for another Trump ally, Dr. Ben Carson, spoke to BuzzFeed News earlier today saying in part: 

“Dr. Carson believes that people can change and be better. You know, these things happen. I’m sure somebody could find a video of Bill Clinton talking like this — are we gonna say Bill Clinton was the same person as president that he is today? Obviously not.”

“People commit adultery. It happens," Armstrong Williams, Carson's advisor said. "Ministers. Heads of state. Everyday people. People are human, they do human things. It’s nothing unusual that somebody committed adultery on their spouse. Women do it. Men do it. Should we be shocked by it? No.”