A Clinton campaign official on Saturday said Clinton plans to address the bombshell Trump tape head-on for the first time from the debate stage — and that the campaign went dark on Saturday in order to capitalize on one of the biggest audiences available with 30 days left of the race, tuned in to hear her response.
But in debate prep sessions in the week leading up to the debate, Clinton aides were urging the Democratic nominee to remain focused on the real people posing questions in the town hall forum, rather than engaging in an ugly back and forth with Trump. The goal, they said, should be to show off the caring, connecting, maternal side of Clinton that voters are less familiar with than the steely war horse who endured an 11-hour Benghazi hearing last fall.
But the weekend’s events have upended any expectation of a normal debate. In a video statement released late Friday night, Trump said that “Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary Clinton has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days.”
On Saturday evening, Trump previewed his nothing-to-lose strategy — he retweeted Juanita Broaddrick, the woman who accused Bill Clinton of raping her in 1978. Bill Clinton has denied the accusation, which Broaddrick made in 1999, in the wake of his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
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