Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Trump, Clinton Accuse Each Other of Flawed Character, Judgement in Rancorous
Debate

by VOA News

   The second presidential debate was expected to be especially
   contentious after the revelation of a video in which Republican Donald
   Trump made lewd comments about women, and the leak of hacked emails
   from Hillary Clinton that suggest she held positions on several issues
   that are contrary to what she has said recently on the campaign trail.

   And those expectations were met.

   Trump entered into the debate Sunday night at Washington University in
   St, Louis in serious need of a strong performance.

   Some top Republicans are urging Trump to drop out of the race after the
   2005 tape surfaced in which he made lewd comments about women, saying
   he can grope them because he is a "star."

   Trump apologized for the candidly-recorded comments in 2005, calling it
   locker-room talk and that he is not proud of it. He said he is
   embarrassed and hates what he said, insisting he has great respect for
   women and that it is time to talk about more important things. He also
   denied ever sexually assaulting a women just because he felt his
   celebrity status allowed him to.

   Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic
   presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speak during the second
   presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Oct. 9,
   2016.

   Clinton said while she has disagreed with the policies of previous
   Republican candidates, this is the first time she has questioned a
   candidate's fitness to serve as president.

   Despite his apology, Clinton said the tape shows exactly who Trump is.
   She also pointed out that Trump has insulted and denigrated minorities,
   Muslims, and prisoner of war.

   Trump accused Hillary Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton,
   of sexually abusing women in the White House and said as a defense
   attorney, Hillary defended the accused rapist of a 12-year-old girl.

   Trump also said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate
   Clinton's 33,000 missing e-mails, saying if he were in charge, Clinton
   would be in jail.

   Fix or repeal Obamacare?

   Trump and Clinton also battled over the future of President Barack
   Obama's signature health care law.
   Clinton, acknowledged that the law has raised premiums and price of
   drugs, but she vowed to fix it, unlike Trump, who promised to replace
   it.

   Clinton said she would appoint Supreme Court justices who have "real
   world experience" trying cases, while Trump said his choices wold be
   people who are well thought of and would respect the construction.

   Clinton hit out at Trump over taxes. Asked by an audience member what
   they would do to get the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share,
   Clinton said it was amusing to hear the man who probably has not paid
   taxes in 20 years.

   Trump said he is was proud of knowing the tax code well enough to take
   advantage of it and pointed out that some of Clinton's wealthy donors
   have done the same thing.

   Syria

   Clinton said she would not put ground forces into Syria, saying that
   would not be a smart strategy.

   She called Aleppo a catastrophic situation, and that Russia is
   determined to destroy the city in an effort to keep Bashar al-Assad in
   power, and supports efforts to hold Russia and the Syrian regime
   accountable for war crimes in the ongoing Syrian civil war.

   Trump said he disagrees with his running mate, Mike Pence, who called
   for strikes on Syrian government targets, but Trump saved most of his
   comments on Syria for President Barack Obama.

   Trump said the world laughed when Obama declared a"line in the sand" in
   Syria. He also said Clinton does not know who the rebels are in Syria,
   and questioned who would get the weapons.