Trump avoids Bill Clinton’s scandals ‘out of respect for Chelsea’
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Going into Monday night’s presidential debate, there was much speculation about whether Donald Trump would raise former President Bill Clinton’s history with women. He did not.
In the spin room afterward, Yahoo News’ Hunter Walker asked Trump if he was “tempted” to raise the topic, as he has done repeatedly on the campaign trial.
“I was, but I decided not to do it out of respect for Chelsea,” Trump replied. Hillary Clinton’s daughter was in the audience for Monday night’s bout.
Watch a video of the exchange below.
Trump had fueled rumors he would bring up past affairs with a tweet saying he might invite to the debate Gennifer Flowers, an Arkansas woman who had an affair with Clinton before he became president. (Flowers said she would come, but the campaign later denied that it was giving her a ticket.)
In a separate exchange in the spin room, Trump also addressed the issue.
“I didn’t want to do my final attack, which was to attack her husband on what took place with respect to him and his life and all of the things that took place, because Chelsea — who I happen to think is a wonderful young lady — was in the room and I just didn’t think it would be appropriate, despite the fact she’s spent — how much has she spent — over $200 million on [negative] commercials,” he said.
Heading into the debate, there was intense speculation about whether Trump would deploy the same type of insults he used against opponents during the primary or the more “disciplined” approach he has adopted in recent weeks. The Trump campaign’s recent efforts to focus on positive policy messages rather than attacks has coincided with him coming from behind in the polls.
In the spin room, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. said his father’s decision not to discuss President Clinton’s history with women “showed a lot of restraint and class.” The younger Trump suggested the fact his father’s family was in attendance played a role in the decision.
“He could have taken the cheap shot,” Trump Jr. said. “He could have brought that up. He certainly knows about it, and he didn’t. He showed restraint because he’s a classy kind of guy, and he wasn’t going to do that in front of his family.”
Additional reporting by Holly Bailey
This post was updated with further comments from the spin room at 11:48 p.m.
(Cover tile photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
