Hillary Clinton will prepare for her upcoming debate in September by remembering unpleasant times in her life, including her husband’s infidelities.
The Clinton campaign is expecting attacks from Donald Trump over Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern whom Bill Clinton had an affair with when he was president, according to Politico. Actress Gennifer Flowers, another woman whom Clinton cheated with, and Vince Foster, a friend of Hillary Clinton who committed suicide in 1993 while he was a White House aide, might also be brought up in the debate.
Trump has previously brought up the former president’s extramarital affairs, including Foster’s death.
“It’s the one thing with her, whether it’s Whitewater or whether it’s Vince or whether it’s Benghazi. It’s always a mess with Hillary,” Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post in May this year.
Greg Craig, former White House counsel to Barack Obama, told Politico that Clinton needs to be prepared for a constant stream of attacks during the debate.
“She’s got to be prepared to deal with the [Clinton] Foundation and Wall Street and super PACs and all of that. They need to be less focused on dealing with his policy proposals and more on dealing with the unexpected. He’s going to be in attack mode, probably the whole time,” said Craig who played George W. Bush in John Kerry’s 2004 debate prep, and as John McCain against Obama in 2008.
The first debate will take place at Hofstra University on Sept. 26 in New York.
Kaine on Lewinsky Scandal
Meanwhile, comments on the Lewinsky-Clinton affairs from vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine have popped up from the past, the Daily Beast pointed out.
Kaine, along with his wife, has been touring with the Clintons, but years ago had said he thought Bill Clinton should have resigned as president over the Lewinsky scandal in an interview with the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Kaine’s comments came during a time when Vance Wilkins, the Virginia House of Delegates speaker was accused of sexual harassment.
“If the allegations are true, he should definitely resign,” Kaine said about Wilkins on June 8, 2002, adding that he thought the same about Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
“That is an intolerable way to treat women and it’s not something that the state should be dragged through,” he said.
The Associated Press also reported on Kaine’s comments the same day.
“When I read it this morning, my reaction was the same I had when I read about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair: this is not appropriate conduct. It’s beneath the dignity of the office,” said Kaine.
A spokesperson for Kaine told the Daily Beast that he is now focused on the future.
“As the Associated Press reported at the time, Kaine characterized President Clinton’s actions as ‘not appropriate’ conduct, but he had previously been on record criticizing the impeachment effort,” said spokeswoman Amy Dudley.
She said Kaine believes this election is about Hillary Clinton and “not re-litigating personal issues from the distant past.”
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