His campaign on the ropes, Donald Trump came out in the second presidential debate throwing verbal haymakers at Hillary Clinton.
The Sunday night showdown in St. Louis had been billed as the Republican nominee’s last, best chance to stop the bleeding and put Clinton back on her heels. And from the open, he blitzed Clinton with a series of barbed attacks and a jarring threat.
Here were Trump’s most pointed attacks — and Clinton’s rejoinders.
‘You’d be in jail’
“It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” Clinton said.
“You’d be in jail,” Trump responded.
Trump on his lewd comments about women
“This was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I apologized to my family and I apologized to the American people. Certainly I’m not proud of it. But this is locker room talk. You know when you have a world where we have ISIS chopping off heads … where you have so many bad things happening, this is like medieval times,” Trump said.
‘It represents exactly who he is’
“Donald Trump is different. I said starting back in June that he was not fit to be president and commander in chief. And many Republicans and independents have said the same thing. What we all saw and heard on Friday was Donald talking about women, what he thinks about women, what he does to women. And he has said that the video doesn’t represent who he is. But I think it’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is,” Clinton said.
Trump accuses Hillary Clinton of enabling Bill Clinton
“There’s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women. So you can say any way you want to say it, but Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously,” Trump said.
Clinton channels Michelle Obama
“When I hear something like that, I am reminded of what my friend, Michelle Obama, advised us all: When they go low, you go high,” Clinton said.
Clinton on Trump’s birtherism
“(Trump) owes the President an apology, he owes our country an apology, and he needs to take responsibility for his actions and his words,” Clinton said.
‘You owe the President an apology’
“Well, you owe the President an apology, because as you know very well, your campaign, Sidney Blumenthal — he’s another real winner that you have — and he’s the one that got this started, along with your campaign manager, and they were on television just two weeks ago, she was, saying exactly that. So you really owe him an apology,” Trump said.
Trump vows to appoint special prosecutor to investigate Clinton
“And I’ll tell you what. I didn’t think I’d say this, but I’m going to say it, and I hate to say it. But if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. There has never been anything like it, and we’re going to have a special prosecutor.”
‘I’m a gentleman’
“Thank you. Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, it is not affordable. Premiums have gone up. Deductibles have gone up. Copays have gone up. Prescriptions have gone up. And the coverage has gone down. What will you do to bring the cost down and make coverage better?” an audience member asked.
“That first one goes to Secretary Clinton, because you started out the last one to the audience,” CNN’s Anderson Cooper said.
“If he wants to start, he can start. No, go ahead, Donald,” Clinton said.
“No, I’m a gentlemen, Hillary. Go ahead,” Trump responded.
‘OK, Donald’
“OK, Donald. I know you’re into big diversion tonight, anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it’s exploding and the way Republicans are leaving you. But let’s at least focus,” Clinton said.
‘Capt. Khan is an American hero’
“First of all, Capt. Khan is an American hero, and if I were president at that time, he would be alive today, because unlike her, who voted for the war without knowing what she was doing, I would not have had our people in Iraq. Iraq was a disaster. So he would have been alive today.”
Trump on Islamophobia
“Hi. There are 3.3 million Muslims in the United States, and I’m one of them. You’ve mentioned working with Muslim nations, but with Islamophobia on the rise, how will you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled as a threat to the country after the election is over?” an audience member asked.
“Well, you’re right about Islamophobia, and that’s a shame. But one thing we have to do is we have to make sure that — because there is a problem. I mean, whether we like it or not, and we could be very politically correct, but whether we like it or not, there is a problem. And we have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on. When they see hatred going on, they have to report it,” Trump responded.
Trump agrees with Clinton
“Well, I actually agree with that. I agree wit