st. louis<u+2014> donald trump and hillary clinton delivered some of the presidential campaign's most acerbic attacks yet in a town-hall debate sunday, with the republican nominee accusing his democratic opponent of having <u+201c>hate in her heart<u+201d> and her countering that her rival doesn<u+2019>t tell the truth. the debate landed amid one of the most convulsive periods of the campaign, in which a steady procession of prominent republicans have sworn off their presidential nominee after seeing a 2005 video in which he boasted about making unwanted sexual advances . each candidate came to their second showdown with a mission: mr. trump to stop the exodus of support for his candidacy by officials in his party; mrs. clinton to take advantage of some fresh momentum. by the end of the exchange, it seemed likely that both may have achieved their aims. an unbowed mr. trump dismissed as <u+201c>locker-room talk<u+201d> the video of him speaking crudely about groping women, and he sought to shift the focus to the infidelities of former president bill clinton , his opponent<u+2019>s husband. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not proud of it,<u+201d> he said of his 2005 words, but added that mr. clinton <u+2019>s actions were worse. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that<u+2019>s been so abusive to women,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>bill clinton was abusive to women. hillary clinton attacked those same women.<u+201d> mrs. clinton broadly disputed mr. trump<u+2019>s assertions and said the crude manner he displayed in the video is evidence he is unfit to become president. <u+201c>he has said the video doesn<u+2019>t represent who he is, but i think it<u+2019>s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is,<u+201d> said mrs. clinton. she also criticized mr. trump for failing to apologize to the various groups he had insulted over the course of his campaign. <u+201c>he never apologizes for anything to anyone,<u+201d> she said, citing as examples president barack obama <u+2014>whom mr. trump accused of not being eligible to serve as president<u+2014>and a federal judge whose mexican heritage mr. trump said disqualified him from presiding over a case. <u+201c>he owes the president an apology, he owes our country an apology,<u+201d> she said. the exchange came after a surreal scene before the debate when mr. trump held an event with three women who have said they have been sexually assaulted or harassed by mr. clinton and a fourth whose alleged rapist was defended in court by mrs. clinton. the trump campaign also gave front-row seats to the women in an audience that included mr. clinton and the democratic nominee<u+2019>s daughter, chelsea clinton. experienced in the town-hall format, mrs. clinton often engaged with audience members, delivering her answers directly to them. mr. trump, a political novice, often paced the floor and focused more on his opponent and the moderators rather than the voters in the hall. mrs. clinton grinned broadly as mr. trump said he would, as president, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her use of a private email server as secretary of state, and responded to his accusations about her deleting emails. <u+201c>everything he just said is absolutely false, but i<u+2019>m not surprised,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of donald trump is not in charge of the law in our country.<u+201d> mr. trump responded, <u+201c>because you<u+2019>d be in jail.<u+201d> she noted that the federal bureau of investigation declined to bring criminal charges against her after an investigation. as mrs. clinton sought to respond during one tense exchange, mr. trump repeatedly interrupted her over the moderators<u+2019> pleas, noting that mrs. clinton hadn<u+2019>t interrupted the republican while he was speaking. <u+201c>ok, donald, i know you<u+2019>re into big diversion tonight,<u+201d> mrs. clinton said. <u+201c>anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it<u+2019>s exploding and the way republicans are leaving you.<u+201d> mr. trump faced questions about newly released tax documents showing that the new york businessman may have avoided paying federal income taxes for years. asked whether he had used a reported $916 million in losses<u+2014>revealed in his 1995 tax return obtained by the new york times last week<u+2014>to write off federal income taxes, mr. trump responded: <u+201c>of course i do,<u+201d> though he didn<u+2019>t say for how many years he had avoided paying taxes. he added: <u+201c>so do all of her donors.<u+201d> mrs. clinton, for her part, was asked about leaked emails showing her voicing support for open borders and open trade in private speeches<u+2014>comments that appeared at odds with her public remarks. she said the role of the organization wikileaks, a group whose methods u.s. intelligence agencies say are consistent with those of a russia-directed effort, in the presidential election was unprecedented. <u+201c>we have never in the history of our country been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>and believe me, they<u+2019>re not doing it to get me elected.<u+201d> the organization on friday released a trove of what it claimed was email correspondence between clinton campaign officials, including the transcripts of paid speeches mrs. clinton gave after leaving the state department. mrs. clinton also was asked to explain her comment in september in which she said some trump supporters belonged in a <u+201c>basket of deplorables.<u+201d> <u+201c>my argument is not with his supporters, it<u+2019>s with him and the hateful and divisive campaign that he<u+2019>s run,<u+201d> mrs. clinton said, adding that she was <u+201c>sorry<u+201d> she had made the remark. mr. trump refused to let mrs. clinton off the hook, saying <u+201c>she has tremendous hate in her heart and when she said deplorables, she meant it,<u+201d> he said. there were gasps throughout the hall when mr. trump spoke about hate and laughter when he feigned shock at her answer that he doesn<u+2019>t have the discipline to be president. the town-hall setting did allow for some policy discussion, prompted by questions from the undecided voters in the audience. in response to a question about the rising premiums under the affordable care act, mrs. clinton tried to strike a balance between commiserating about the costs while praising the law<u+2019>s most popular provisions: banning insurers from denying coverage because of an illness, charging women more than men and limiting lifetime costs. <u+201c>if we repeal it as donald has proposed and start over again, all of those benefits i just mentioned are lost to everybody,<u+201d> she said. mr. trump repeated his call to repeal the law and replace it. mrs. clinton issued a sharp rebuke of mr. trump<u+2019>s proposed ban on muslims entering the country, calling it <u+201c>extremely unwise and even dangerous.<u+201d> <u+201c>we are a country founded on religious freedom and liberty,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>how do we do what he has advocated without causing great distress within our own country?<u+201d> the republican nominee said his early proposal to impose a muslim ban had <u+201c>morphed into a extreme vetting.<u+201d> under fire for an idea that was seen as a religious test, mr. trump later proposed tighter immigration restrictions for people coming from countries that harbor terrorists. however, the muslim-centric proposal has never been formally renounced and is still on his campaign website. when the moderator called him on trying to dodge the question of why the proposal had <u+201c>morphed,<u+201d> he snapped at the interruption, <u+201c>why don<u+2019>t you interrupt her?<u+201d> when the debate turned to u.s. policy in syria, mr. trump admitted that he had a difference of opinion with his running mate, mike pence, who said in the vice presidential debate that the u.s. should be prepared to use military force to strike syrian president bashar al-assad. mr. trump said he hadn<u+2019>t discussed the issue with mr. pence. <u+201c>he and i haven<u+2019>t spoken; we disagree,<u+201d> he said. he said the u.s. should let mr. assad and russia attack islamic state in syria. the debate ended with the two candidates saying something nice about each other<u+2014>at the urging of a voter<u+2019>s question. of mr. trump, mrs. clinton said, <u+201c>i respect his children,<u+201d> adult sons and daughters who have been important players in his business and campaign. <u+201c>that is something that as a mother and a grandmother, is very important to me,<u+201d> she said. mr. trump said he admired mrs. clinton<u+2019>s tenacity. <u+201c>she doesn<u+2019>t quit, she doesn<u+2019>t give up; i respect that,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>she<u+2019>s a fighter. i disagree with much of what she is fighting for.<u+2026>but she does fight hard and she doesn<u+2019>t quit and she doesn<u+2019>t give up and i consider that to be a very good trait.<u+201d> <u+2014>janet hook and rebecca ballhaus contributed to this article. write to colleen mccain nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com , beth reinhard at beth.reinhard@wsj.com and michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com
donald trump, hillary clinton swap barbs, snipes in second debate - wsj
colleen mccain nelson beth reinhard michael c. bender