With less than a month left before the US elections, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are pulling no punches as they head into the second presidential debate on Sunday night at the Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
The “town hall” style debate follows Friday’s revelations about candidates – Trump’s crude remarks about women during a television shoot in 2005, published by NBC, and hacked emails that included Clinton’s Wall Street speech transcripts, published by WikiLeaks.
10 October 2016
On what she admires about Trump, she said she respects his children. She said that his children are incredible and she respects what he did for them, although she disagrees with "nearly everything he says."
"This is not an ordinary time or an ordinary election," she said. She emphasized the time she has spent working with parents and families.
Hillary responded to the renewable energy question saying, "China is illegally dumping steel in the US and Trump is buying it." She also focused on the need to remain energy independent so as to avoid relying on the Middle East and staying out of their conflicts.
“I will say this about Hillary. She doesn’t quit, she doesn’t give up. She’s a fighter... and I respect that,” Trump said about Clinton, getting the last word in the second debate.
“The EPA is killing our energy companies,” Trump said. “I am all for alternative forms of energy, including wind, solar, etc. But we need to go beyond,” he added, from clean coal to natural gas.
“We are putting our energy companies out of business.”
Clinton quickly noted her support for the Second Amendment, but reiterated the need for background checks and closing both the gun show loophole as well as the internet loophole.
The next question was about the Supreme Court.
“I am looking to appoint judges very much in the mold of Justice Scalia,” Trump said, “people who will respect the Constitution of the United States.”
Among the 20 jurists Trump is considering are people who will defend the Second Amendment, which he described as “under siege” from Clinton.
On nominating Supreme Court justices, Hillary said "I think the current court has gone in the wrong direction so I would want to see the Supreme Court reverse citizens united" and decried Trump's potential nominations for not supporting Roe v. Wade and would potentially overturn marriage equality.
Answering a question about discipline and tweeting at 3 am, Trump called Twitter "a very effective form of communication" and brought up Clinton's own ad about the 3 am phone call.
“Ambassador Stephens sent out 600 requests for help, and the only one she talked to was Sidney Blumenthal.”
When asked if they could be a president for all Americans, Trump responds:“Absolutely. She calls our people deplorable and irredeemable.”
“I would be a president for all our people… who would give strength to all, and bring jobs to people,” he said.
He describes inner cities as having 45 percent poverty, where education is a disaster and jobs are nonexistent.
"What do you have to lose? It can’t get any worse," Trump said. “As usual, she talks about it, nothing happens. She doesn’t get it done.”
Replying to Clinton's rebuttal, he said, “We have a divided nation, because of people like her. She has tremendous hate in her heart."
"I would not use american ground forces in Syria, i think that would be a very serious mistake," Clinton said. "I don’t think american troops should be holding territory which is would they would be doing."
"I hope that by the time i am president that we will have pushed ISIS out of Iraq," she said.
Trump says he disagrees with his running mate Mike Pence, who advocated strikes on Syrian military targets.
“He and I haven’t spoken and I disagree.” Trump said when moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC quoted his running mate Mike Pence about US needing to intervene.
“She talks rebels, but she doesn’t know who the rebels are.” Trump replied. “Almost everything she’s done in foreign policy, it’s been a mistake and it’s been a disaster.”
“Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. Iran is killing ISIS. And those three have now lined up because of our weak policy.”
Clinton accused Russia in not paying "any interest to ISIS", but "interested in keeping Assad in charge."
"We need some leverage with he Russians because they’re not going to come to the negotiation table without leverage," she said. She also repeated her calls for no-fly zone.
Trump said he went to work with a Republican mayor and president after 9/11.
"Four-hundred pieces of legislation have my name on it as a sponsor or co-sponsor," he said.
"For 30 years, I have produced results for people," Trump added.
Trump accused Clinton of making "bad judgments" on Libya, Syria, and Iraq.
"The way Obama and Clinton pulled out of Iraq created a vacuum that allowed ISIS to expand," he said.
“Congratulations, great job.”
In response to Trump's comments about Clinton raising taxes, the Democratic candidate said: "Everything you’ve heard just now from Donald is not true. I’m sorry I have to keep saying this, but he lives in his own reality."
She accused Trump's proposed tax cuts of actually raising taxes on middle class families.
Meanwhile, Clinton said she wants "to have a tax on people who are making a million dollars, it’s called the 'Buffet Rule.'"
"I want to have a surcharge on incomes above $5 million," she said.
Trump said he will cut the tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, while Clinton would "raise your taxes really high."
“Our taxes are so high, just about the highest in the world… and she is raising everybody’s taxes massively," he said.
Responding to calls to release his tax returns, Trump said: "As soon as my audit is finished, I’ll release my tax returns."
Responding to Clinton's accusations of a possible close relationship with Russia, Trump said her remarks were "so ridiculous. She got caught in a total lie."
“Now she’s blaming the lie on the late great Abraham Lincoln...Honest Abe didn't lie. That's the difference between Abraham Lincoln and you.”
Trump said it would be "great" if the US and Russia could fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) together, but that he doesn't know anything about the "inner workings of Russia."
"I have no loans with Russia," he continued.
Clinton said: "Our intelligence community came out and said the Kremlin, meaning Putin and the Russian government" are directing WikiLeaks to leak information.
She added that "they aren't pushing for me."
"Donald Trump should release his tax returns so we can see his entanglements and relationships," Clinton said.
Trump says the US Border Patrol “endorsed me because I understand the border. [Clinton] does not.”
Trump said the US has "many criminal illegal aliens, murderers, very bad people. When we want to send them back, their countries say ‘we don’t want them.'"
"When she was secretary of state, Clinton said 'that’s ok.' When I am president, I am going to send them back."
Clinton said she will not let anyone into the US who she believes "poses a risk to us." However, she noted that "there are a lot of refugees - women and children."
"We will have vetting that is as tough as it needs to be from our professionals [and] experts," Clinton said.
Trump said that refugees coming from places like Syria could be a "great Trojan horse."
“We know nothing about their values, and we know nothing about their love for our country," he said.
Trump stressed that he is not proposing a "Muslim ban," but rather "extreme vetting."
He also said that Capt. Khan would have been alive today if he was president, accusing Clinton of voting for a war "without knowing what she was doing."
Clinton stressed that America has had Muslims since the days of George Washington.
"It’s very short-sighted and even dangerous to be engaging in the kind of demagogues rhetoric Donald Trump has engaged in," she said.
Although she said it is "important to defeat ISIS (Islamic State) with a coalition of Muslim nations," she stressed that "we are not at war with Islam."
When a Muslim woman asked a question about Islamophobia being on the rise, Trump admitted it is indeed on the rise, adding that "that's a shame."
He said, however, that there is a "problem," citing the San Bernardino attack.
"Many people saw bombs around the apartment. Muslims have to report the problems when they see them...if they don’t do that, it’s a very difficult situation for our country.”
“To solve the problem, you have to name it. She won’t say the name, President Obama won’t say it. It’s radical Islamic terror," Trump said.
Trump said that "everything" is broken about Obamacare.
"Bernie Sanders said that Hillary Clinton has bad judgment. Trying to save Obamacare is the perfect example.”
He accused Obamacare of being a "big lie."
"Obama said ‘keep your doctor’…the whole thing was a fraud, and it doesn’t work.”
Clinton said we need to "fix what's broken" about Obamacare, but that the US shouldn't throw it away.
"We have an employer based system, that’s where the vast majority of people get their healthcare," she said.
Green and Libertarian party candidates who were not allowed to the debates comment on social media.
Meanwhile, Trump said "Obamacare is a disaster. You know it, we all know it."
"Their method of fixing it is to go ask Congress for more money…Obamacare will never work," he said.
“We have to repeal it and replace it with something much less expensive and something that works," he said, adding that "Obamacare gives insurance companies monopolies; we want competition."
Clinton spoke of changes that need to be made to the Affordable Care Act, noting that "reigning in the cost" needs to be the highest priority of the next president.
"Look, it’s just not true," Clinton responded to Trump's remarks. "We turned over 35,000 [emails]."
"Okay, Donald, I know you’re into big diversion tonight," Clinton added.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Trump told Clinton regarding the email scandal.
"33,000 emails deleted, and now she’s saying there wasn’t anything there? And that was after the subpoena.”
Regarding Clinton's email scandal, the Democratic candidate admitted that using a personal account was a "mistake."
She noted, however, that "after a year-long investigation, there is no evidence that the server was hacked...there is no evidence that any classified information ended up in the wrong hands."
"Everything he said is absolutely false but i am not surprised," Clinton said in response to Trump's comments.
"It would be impossible to be fact checking Donald all the time, I would never get to talk about all the things I want to..." she added, encouraging people to go to her website to fact-check Trump's statements in real-time.
Trump fired back that Clinton’s campaign started the birther rumors about Barack Obama. He also said Clinton should not bring up friendship with Michelle Obama after the 2008 campaign – that Obama won “fair and square,” unlike this year’s primaries against Sanders.
“People’s lives have been destroyed for doing one fifth of what you’ve done," Trump said, promising to appoint a special prosecutor to "look into your situation."
Responding to Trump's remarks about Bill Clinton "abusing" women, Clinton referenced the words of Michelle Obama.
"When i hear something like that, I am reminded of what my friend Michelle Obama advised us all: when they go low, you go high," she said.
"If this was just about one video, maybe what he is saying tonight would be understandable. but everyone can draw their own conclusions," Clinton said in regards to Trump's behavior.
She went on to state the number of people Trump has "never apologized" to, including Mr. and Mrs. Kahn, the family whose son died in Iraq.
"He never apologized for the racist lie that President Obama was not born in America," she added.
Answering a Facebook question about Trump's leaked "locker room" remarks, Trump said: “Those were words. I apologized for words.”
“If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse - mine were words, his was action,” Trump said, pointing to the four women who have accused the former president of sexual assault. “Bill Clinton abused women.”
Responding to Clinton's presidential promises, Trump said: "It's just words, folks, just words."
“I’ve heard them for many years...she wants the vote and she does nothing," he added.
In response to Donald Trump's leaked comments about women, Clinton said: "What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women. And he has said the video doesn’t represent who he is, but I think it’s clear to anyone who hears it that it represents exactly who he is."
"...Throughout this campaign, we’ve seen him insult women, we’ve seen him embarrass women on TV and Twitter. So yes, this is who Donald Trump is. But it’s not only women and it’s not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president."
CNN's Anderson Cooper, one of the debate's moderators, asked whether Trump ever did the things he brought up in his 2005 "locker room" comments.
“I have not,” Trump responded, adding that he respects women.
Trump's first response in the debate agreed with Clinton's description of America.
“I agree with everything she said,” he said. "This is a great country, this is a great land…we have such tremendous potential.”
In response to the first debate question, Hillary Clinton said: "It is very important for us to make clear to our children that our country really is great because we’re good, and we are going to respect one another and lift each other up."
"...If we set those goals and we go together to try to achieve them, there’s nothing that America can’t do..." Clinton added.
Jill Stein has tweeted that 76 percent of Americans want open presidential debates, and 57 percent want major alternatives to the Democratic and Republican parties.
With both candidates having record negative ratings, their arguments to the undecided voters are boiling down to "I'm better than suicide."
Green Party candidate Jill Stein will be live streaming during the debate.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson will be live tweeting during the debate.
Some of the students at Washington University have been spotted waving signs supporting the Johnson-Weld Libertarian ticket, or expressing preference for a giant meteor hitting the Earth.
Trump's response to Democrats' accusations of sexism was hold a pre-debate press event featuring Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Kathy Shelton and Juanita Broaddrick – four women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault.
“These four very courageous women have asked to be here and it was our honor to help them,” Trump said, adding, "see you at the debate."
The Clinton campaign called the event a "stunt" and a "race to the bottom."
Meanwhile, the fallout from “Trump tapes” has reached the Access Hollywood host who was part of the 2005 conversation that was published Friday. Billy Bush, nephew of President George H.W. Bush, has been suspended from the “Today” show by NBC.