Hillary Clinton went after Donald Trump on Wednesday night over mounting allegations of sexual assault against the Republican nominee, characterizing him as unrepentant.
Trump, who has denied the allegations against him, said each of the stories has been “debunked,” calling them “lies” and “fiction.”
He accused the Clinton campaign of orchestrating the news cycle last week, in which at least nine women came forward alleging that Trump inappropriately kissed or groped them against their will—all after the release of a video in which Trump was caught bragging about the exact same type of behavior.
“I didn’t see these women,” Trump said. “I think they want fame or her campaign did it.”
Trump later said he did not apologize to his wife after the allegations began to surface, because he “didn’t do anything.” Melania Trump said in an interview earlier this week that her husband did apologize to her, though, for the lewd comments about groping women that were caught on tape.
Clinton blasted Trump for a string of comments last week in which the GOP nominee responded to the allegations by commenting on the attractiveness (or perceived lack thereof) of his accusers. In at least two instances, Trump suggested that he could not have sexually assaulted the women who came forward because they are not beautiful enough for him. He said of one of the women: “She wouldn’t be my first choice.”
Trump interrupted Clinton: “I did not say that.”
The Democratic nominee added: “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. … That’s who Donald is.”
Trump repeated a line he often says during interviews and rallies on the campaign trail—that “nobody has more respect for women than I do”—prompting the audience to laugh and moderator Chris Wallace to ask them to be quiet. Trump then attempted to pivot to attacking Clinton over her exclusive use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
“She mentions this, which is all fiction,” Trump said of the allegations. “But what isn’t fictionalized are her emails where she destroyed 30,000 emails criminally after getting a subpoena from the United States Congress.”
In her response, Clinton meandered back to the issue at hand, accusing Trump of consistently “denying responsibility.” She said Trump never apologizes for his missteps, namely his attacks on a Gold Star family and an American judge of Mexican descent.