Controversies hit US presidential candidates ahead of debate
With a tape of Trump making scandalous comments about women and transcripts from Clinton's speeches to bankers both leaked in the last week, the two main presidential candidates have a lot of ammunition to fire at each other on Sunday.
Preparations are made for the second presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis
The second presidential debate will take place on Sunday and the two rivals taking part are both reeling from recent controversies. But one candidate is feeling more heat than the other.
Friday's leaked tape of Republican Donald Trump speaking crudely about women has made headlines. As a result, many from his own party are withdrawing their support and asking the real estate mogul to step down.
Donald Trump should withdraw and Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately.
— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) October 8, 2016
Character matters.@realDonaldTrump is obviously not going to win.
— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) October 8, 2016
But he can still make an honorable move:
Step aside & let Mike Pence try.
Others, including long time Republican and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, are also denouncing the candidate:
As proud as I am to label myself a Republican, there is one label that I hold above all else - American. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/biRvY8S3aZ
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) October 8, 2016
As the grandfather of two precious girls, I find that no apology can excuse away Donald Trump's reprehensible comments degrading women.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 7, 2016
The Democratic candidate seems to be benefitting from the timing of the leak of the tape, as it has distracted many from Saturday's Wikileaks dump of emails allegedly from Hillary Clinton's campaign, including excerpts from her private speeches to Wall Street bankers.
Clinton reportedly made more than $21 million from speaking events for bankers following her time as US Secretary of State.
80 page doc of harmful Hillary Clinton private paid speech extracts compiled by her campaign. See ATTACHMENTS tab https://t.co/8k8I3sHcIN
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 8, 2016
In the run-up to their release, Wikileaks founder Jullian Assange claimed that the documents would destroy the Clinton's campaign.
"We have more info and we will publish everything when the time is right some of these materials can get Hillary Clinton to lose the nomination," Assange reportedly told Afshin Rattansi of the Russia Today network last month.
With many in the media paying close attention to the aftermath of Trump's comments, it may be up to Trump to bring the issue of Clinton's leaked emails to the attention of voters at Sunday's debate.
But the question is – will it make a difference?
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.