Donald Trump says “it’s fine” if his personal history — including his divorces — is scrutinized during the presidential race.
The Republican front-runner has blasted former President Bill Clinton, calling him “an abuser” and highlighting allegations from Juanita Broaddrick saying Clinton had raped her, as he pushes back on the campaign trail against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton casting him as sexist.
In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Trump repeated his criticism, saying Hillary Clinton is “married to an abuser. A woman claimed rape, and all sorts of things. I mean, horrible things.”
And he said he doesn’t mind attention on his own history — including two divorces.
“You know what? I wasn’t the President of the United States. And I wasn’t dealing in the Oval Office, all right? A big difference. I wasn’t the president,” Trump said. “And my first wife thinks I’m great. And my second wife … I have a great marriage. I mean, I have a great marriage. So I mean, it’s fine.”
Trump said even if he doesn’t mind the scrutiny, the Clintons have avoided confrontation with him, taking pains to avoid responding.
“I’m not saying don’t bring anything up with me,” Trump said. “But when she says that, I had to bring it up. And by the way, they’ve become very unresponsive since then.”
Hillary Clinton was asked about Trump’s criticism on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.
“If he wants to engage in personal attacks from the past, that’s his prerogative. You know — so be it,” Clinton said. “I’m going to draw distinctions between where I stand and where he stands when it comes to equal pay for women, raising the minimum wage … protecting a woman’s right to make the most personal health care decisions.”
Pressed further, Clinton said of her husband’s sex allegations: “It’s been fair game going back to the Republicans for some years. They can do it again if they want to … Didn’t work before. It won’t work again.”