Hillary Clinton will be joined at Wednesday’s debate by two well-known billionaires who are backing her campaign, an attempt to rattle Republican nominee Donald Trump by subtly questioning his own net worth.
Meg Whitman, the Hewlett-Packard CEO and former Republican California gubernatorial candidate, and Mark Cuban, the outspoken billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will both be Clinton’s guests at Wednesday’s third and final presidential debate.
Clinton invited both Cuban and Whitman, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said, and the duo agreed to attend.
Whitman, a longtime Republican, endorsed Clinton earlier this year, saying in a statement that she would vote for and donate to Clinton. Since then, Whitman has headlined events for Clinton and contributed a considerable amount of money to her campaign, including attending a $50,000-a-person fundraiser in California earlier this year.
Cuban sat in the front row at Clinton’s first debate against Trump, a move that was intended to shake the Republican nominee because the Dallas Mavericks owner has been so outspoken against the businessman.
Cuban endorsed Clinton at a July event in his native Pittsburgh. Afterwards, he told CNN that Trump was “bats— crazy.”
“Trump scares me,” Cuban said after speaking at the event. “Donald, initially, I really hoped he would be something different, that as a businessperson, I thought there was an opportunity there. But then he went off the reservation and went bats— crazy.”
Trump lashed out at Cuban for attending the debate with Clinton, calling him “dopey.”
Since announcing her candidacy, Clinton has picked up a group of high-profile billionaire backers. The campaign has, in turn, used them to question Trump’s wealth, citing the fact that he has not released his taxes as a reason for the questions.
Clinton regularly mentions Cuban and billionaire investor Warren Buffett at events across the country, calling them “real billionaires” compared to Trump.
