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Clinton perfectly shut down Trump’s claim that stories of women accusing him of assault were ‘debunked’

“Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger.”

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/John Locher
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/John Locher

During the debate on Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton shut down Trump’s claims that the women accusing him of sexual assault were “debunked.”

“Well, first of all, those stories have been largely debunked. Those people, I don’t know those people. I have a feeling how they came. I believe it was her campaign that did it,” Trump said, after moderator Chris Wallace asked a question about the women who have come forward saying they were sexually assaulted by him. “I have to say that, and I didn’t even apologize to my wife who is sitting right here because I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know any of these women. I didn’t see these women… I think they want either fame or her campaign did it.”

Clinton responded by noting that none of the stories have been debunked.

“At the last debate, we heard Donald talking about what he did to women, and after that a number of women have come forward saying that’s exactly what he did to them,” she said. “Now, what was his response? Well, he held a number of big rallies where he said that he could not possibly have done those things to those women because they were not attractive enough for them to be assaulted.”

Trump tried, again to interrupt to protest that he did not say that.

“In fact, he went on to say “look at her, I don’t think so.’ About another woman, he said ‘that wouldn’t be my first choice,’” Clinton continued. “He attacked the woman reporter writing the story calling her disgusting as he has called a number of women during this campaign. Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger. He goes after their dignity, their self-worth, and I don’t think there’s a woman anywhere that doesn’t know what that feels like. So we now know what Donald thinks and what he says and how he acts toward women. That’s who Donald is. I think it’s really up to all of us to demonstrate who we are, and who are country is, and to stand up and be very clear about what we expect from our next president.”

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Since a 2005 video was leaked of Donald Trump bragging about assaulting women without their consent, 10 women have come forward with similar accounts of being assaulted by him. Despite promising evidence that these stories aren’t true, Trump has come up with very little. He has only shared the story of a British man named Anthony Gilberthorpe, who claimed to have been present during the time Jessica Leeds said she was sexually assaulted by Trump, over 30 years ago, and is disputing the account. Gilberthorpe has repeatedly lied to the media in the past. Six women have since backed up another woman’s account of being sexually assaulted by Trump.

This story previously stated that Gilberthorpe said he witnessed the alleged assault of Natasha Stoynoff. It has been corrected to note that he is disputing the alleged assault of Jessica Leeds.