ST. LOUIS: In a debate filled with tension, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of attacking women involved in her husband’s marital affairs and declared she would “be in jail” if he were president. Staring icily at her Republican rival, Clinton said Trump’s own aggressively vulgar comments about women had revealed “exactly who he is.”
Late in the debate, Trump said Clinton has “tremendous hate in her heart.”
Trump made the comment in reference to Clinton saying earlier in the campaign that half of Trump’s supporters are “deplorables.” Clinton apologized for saying that half of his supporters were deplorables, but didn’t back down from using that word.
After Trump said Sunday that Clinton had “tremendous hate in her heart,” she laughed and shook her head. But she did not address the comment the next time she spoke.
Sunday night’s debate was the culmination of a stunning stretch in the race for the White House, which began with the release of a new video in which Trump is heard bragging about how his fame allowed him to “do anything” to women. A flood of Republicans revoked their support, with some calling for him to drop out of the race.
Answering for his words for the first time, Trump denied that he had ever kissed and grabbed women without their consent. He said repeatedly that his words in 2005 were merely “locker room talk” and paled in comparison to what he called Bill Clinton’s abuse of women.
“She should be ashamed of herself,” Trump declared. Ahead of the debate, the businessman met with three women who accused the former president of sexual harassment and even rape, then invited them to sit in the debate hall.
Bill Clinton never faced any criminal charges in relation to the allegations, and a lawsuit over an alleged rape was dismissed. He did settle a lawsuit with one of the women who claimed harassment.
On the debate stage, Clinton did not respond directly to Trump’s accusations about her husband or her own role, but was blistering in her condemnation of his predatory comments about women in the tape released Friday.
“I think it’s clear to anyone who heard him that it represents exactly who he is,” she said, adding that she did not believe Trump had the “fitness to serve” as commander in chief.
Trump continually tried to pivot from his videotape to foreign policy, seemingly suggesting his comments pale in comparison to the actions of the Islamic State.
In the 2005 videotape unearthed Friday, Trump was shown bragging about trying to seduce a married woman, groping and kissing other women against their will and getting away with it because of his fame.
Much of the first 15 minutes of the debate centered around the videotape and Trump’s defense of it as “locker room” talk — and Trump bringing up sexual assault claims against Bill Clinton.
“I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do,” Trump said.
He also claimed there has “never been anybody in the history of politics that’s been so abusive to women” as Bill Clinton.
The Associated Press reported on Trump’s assertion that Hillary Clinton, as a young public defender, was seen laughing at the girl who was raped when she represented the accused rapist.
Clinton at no point was seen laughing at the victim, the Associated Press reported.
In 1975, at the age of 12, Kathy Shelton was sexually assaulted in northwest Arkansas. Clinton was asked by a judge overseeing the case to represent her alleged attacker. After the prosecution lost key evidence, Clinton’s client entered a plea to a lesser charge.
In an interview a decade later, Clinton expressed horror at the crime, but was recorded on tape laughing about procedural details of the case. The audio has been seized on by conservative groups looking to attack Clinton’s presidential candidacy but does not convey mirth at the girl’s fate.
Clinton and Trump did not shake hands before the debate, which suggested the hostility level was high.
Trump interrupted Clinton multiple times, earning a rebuke from moderator Anderson Cooper to let her finish talking. He stood and paced as Clinton spoke and was combative from the start. After moderator Martha Raddatz posed a question about Clinton’s email scandal, she apologized again and said she would do it differently.
Just moments later, Trump chastised the moderators for not bringing up the email issue and then said “Nice. Three on one,” implying a bias in the debate.
But the moderators of this debate seemed to be far more in control than in the first debate or in the vice presidential debate last week.
The interruptions prompted Clinton to exclaim, “I know that you’re into big diversions tonight.”
At one point, Clinton asserted that “bullying is up” among young people because of what she calls “the Trump effect.” She did not cite statistics to back up her assertions.
Migrant crisis
Trump backed away from his complete ban on Muslims entering the United States by saying, “It’s called extreme vetting. We are going to areas like Syria where they are coming in by the tens of thousands, people are coming into our country like we have no idea who they are. This is going to be the great Trojan horse of all time.”
Clinton responded by saying she “will not let anyone into our country who I think poses a risk to us.”
They also clashed over the future of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
Clinton is vowing to fix the Affordable Care Act and Trump is promising to repeal and replace “Obamacare.”
Clinton says 20 million more people have health coverage because of the law. She says she wants to “save what works,” but the next administration will need to get costs down and provide more help to small businesses. She says if the system is repealed it will be “turned back” to the insurance industry.
Trump says the system is a “disaster” and “will never work.” He says it needs to be replaced with a less expensive system that’s more flexible for patients regardless of what state they live in.
Trump seemed sensitive to his interactions with Clinton. When the moderators asked a question and it was unclear whose turn it was to answer first, Clinton said, “Go ahead, Donald.”
Trump replied, “No, I’m a gentleman, Hillary, go ahead.” Some in the audience laughed.
Trump also said if elected, he would appoint a special prosecutor to re-examine Clinton’s email scandal.
Later in the debate, he boasted about his large social media following. “I’m not unproud of it, to be honest with you,” Trump said of his Twitter and Facebook followers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.