After the wildest 48 hours yet in the presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off for their second debate in what already promises to be a raucous affair.
On Friday, a leaked 2005 video showed the Republican presidential nominee making lewd comments about women as he described how he would grope and force himself on them. In the wake of the startling revelations, many GOP lawmakers, especially ones in competitive races, rushes to distance themselves from their party’s standard-bearer. More than 30 called for him to step down or cede the contest to his vice presidential nominee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Trump apologized for his comments, and signaled he would turn the conversation toward alleged allegations of sexual misconduct of the Democratic nominee’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. Trump doubled down on that threat just 90 minutes before the town hall-style debate at Washington University in St. Louis was set to begin, holding a surprise appearance with Juanita Broaddrick, who alleges Bill Clinton raped her nearly 40 years ago, and Paula Jones, who accused Clinton of sexual harassment.
The controversy overshadowed a WikiLeaks release of emails from Clinton’s campaign chairman that appeared to show excerpts of her speeches to Wall Street groups and claim that she dreams of “”open trade and open borders.”
Moderated by ABC’s Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the questions from voters are expected to touch on a range of topics, but the sideshows of the past few days will also play heavily. We’ll be live-blogging the 90 minute debate below. The NPR politics team is also live fact-checking the debate.
Article source: http://www.npr.org/2016/10/09/497314611/trump-clinton-debate-for-first-time-since-leaked-audio?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news