After losing out to Hillary Clinton in Monday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump and his campaign aides are toying with a new gamble to upstage her by raking up her husband Bill Clinton’s past marital infidelities, notably the sexual misconduct involving White House intern Monica lewinsky that nearly dislodged him from office in the late 1990s.
It may be a high-risk strategy for the thrice-married New York billionaire, but Trump seems unfazed by the counter-punches he may be inviting from the Clinton camp. Trump’s own push is being projected as a counter-punch after Clinton brought up at the debate his treatment of a former Miss Universe, calling her Miss Piggy after she put on weight.
For starters, Trump obliquely introduced the topic at a campaign rally in Bedford, New Hampshire on Thursday, saying, “The American people have had it with years and decades of Clinton corruption and scandal…An impeachment for lying. An impeachment for lying. Remember thatIJ”
The reference was to the House of Representatives’ approval of formal impeachment charges against President Clinton in late 1998. The Senate, however, acquitted him of the charges.
NBC News reported that the Trump campaign has indeed issued a talking points memo, asking supporters to tell reporters that “Hillary Clinton trying to present herself as some sort of feminist champion is a joke” and that she “bullied and smeared women” connected to her husband’s scandals. The memo’s existence was first reported by CNN.
Clinton, when asked by reporters about the possibility that Trump would raise her husband’s infidelities, said, “He can run his campaign however he chooses. That’s up to him. I’m going to keep talking about the stakes in this election.”