The crossfire between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton reached new
levels of intensity Tuesday in a prelude to their expected November
presidential election battle, as the candidates traded blows over
everything from past Clinton scandals to claims Trump was rooting for a
housing market crash before the recession.
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, hit the
presumptive GOP nominee on his years-old housing comments at a campaign
stop earlier Tuesday.
"When he was talking about the possibility of a
housing market crash before the Great Recession, he said, ‘I sort of
hope that happens,' " Clinton said. "He actually said that, he actually
said he was hoping for the crash that caused hard working families in
California and across America to lose their homes, all because
he thought he could take advantage of it to make some money for
himself."
Trump's campaign issued a statement defending his
comments, made in the mid-2000s, as the mortgage, then housing bubble
began to burst.
"I am a businessman and I have made a lot of money in
down markets, in some cases as much as I've made when markets are good.
Frankly, this is the kind of thinking our country needs --
understanding how to get a good result out of a very bad and sad
situation," Trump said in the statement.
"Politicians have no idea how to do this -- they
don't have a clue. I will create jobs, bring back companies and not make
it easy for companies to leave.”
The New York real estate mogul has reached the
general electorate with a pro-jobs message that in part includes vows to
end the kind of international trade deals that have sent U.S.
manufacturing jobs overseas.
The exchange between Clinton and Trump came a day
after Trump released an incendiary web video that including allegations
from two women who accused Clinton’s husband, former President Bill
Clinton, of sexual assault years ago.
Two polls released this past weekend show Clinton and Trump essentially tied in the White House race.
The Trump campaign on Tuesday also denied claims by
Democrats and those of a former adviser that Trump helped pay the
mortgage of a woman who years ago accused the former president of sexual
assault and was just featured in a scathing Trump campaign video.
"There's no truth to that,” campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told Fox News, responding to the mortgage claims.
The pushback comes after a Democrat-tied group posted
the video and transcript of a February interview in which Trump ally
Roger Stone described efforts to financially help Kathleen Willey, who
claims former President Clinton groped her in 1993.
The Washington Post also said Monday that Trump, in a
recent interview, said the 1993 death of Clinton administration
attorney Vince Foster was “very fishy.”
Investigators ruled his death a suicide. But Clinton
detractors have suggested the first couple was involved in Foster’s
death to hide secrets. Trump, nevertheless, called the allegations of
possible foul play “very serious.”
No comments:
Post a Comment