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.