Donald Trump says he'll make President Bill Clinton's infidelity a campaign issue
Tensions remain high on the presidential campaign trail over Donald Trump’s tirade against the 1996 Miss Universe.
Before dawn on Friday, Trump posted unfounded smears against Alicia Machado.
Hillary Clinton said the issue is not Machado but the bias and instability Trump has shown in his comments about her.
Trump, for his part, told the New York Times that this may spark him to get “nasty.”
CBS News’ Errol Barnett reports Trump told the newspaper he will make former President Clinton’s infidelity a campaign issue.
He was looking for a new line of attack after a bruising week in which his own history with women was front and center.
“Who gets up at 3 o’clock in the morning to engage in a Twitter attack against a former Miss Universe?” Hillary Clinton said at a campaign rally.
Speaking to voters in the battleground state of Florida, Clinton again attacked Trump hard on his temperament.
“I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near the nuclear codes,” Clinton said.
In Michigan, Trump said the media and the political establishment are working together to get Clinton elected.
“The news anchors and the donors and the lobbyists, who are used to getting their way, are trying to do everything they can to help crooked Hillary Clinton,” Trump said.
Five days after the candidates’ first primetime debate, Trump is still trying to get back at Clinton for bringing up decades-old comments he made about a former Miss Universe.
“He called this woman Miss Piggy; then he called her Miss Housekeeping because she was Latina,” Clinton said at Monday’s presidential debate. “Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado, and she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”
Trump claimed he barely knew the Venezuelan beauty queen and tried to save her job when she gained weight soon after being crowned.
“I saved her job because they wanted to fire her for putting on so much weight, and it is a beauty contest,” Trump said on Fox News.
In a series of early morning tweets Friday, Trump said Clinton has bad judgment for using Machado against him, calling Machado “disgusting” and encouraging his 12 million followers to “check out” her “sex tape.”
Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
On Instagram, Machado responded, writing in Spanish that Trump was “intimidating” her with “cheap slander” and “lies” that have “no foundation.”
The Trump camp is also suffering from the USA Today editorial board’s unprecedented decision to take sides in an election, calling Trump “unfit for the presidency,” “erratic,” “ill-equipped” and someone who “traffics in prejudice.”
Trying to make light of Trump’s early morning tweets, Clinton sent some herself at 3 on Saturday morning.
She said that’s as good a time as any to talk about public service. She’s calling for an expansion of AmeriCorps.
It's 3:20am. As good a time as any to tweet about national service. https://t.co/6hRCC16UiV
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 1, 2016