Trump calls on rival to take drug test before 3rd debate

Associated Press

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.

Donald Trump sought to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. presidential election Saturday, pressing claims the contest is rigged against him and vowing anew to jail Hillary Clinton if he’s elected. He also insinuated his rival was on drugs at the second presidential debate and challenged her to a drug test before the third debate Wednesday.

Trump’s tribulations and accusations overshadowed the release Saturday of more emails hacked from accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, laying bare aspects of the campaign’s internal deliberations.

The latest batch included transcripts suggesting a close relationship between Clinton and Wall Street financiers, emails showing how the campaign wrestled with how to respond to revelations about her private email use and how it lined up materials to respond to fresh accusations from Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of raping her decades ago.

In his campaign stop in New Hampshire, Trump accused the media and the Clinton campaign of conspiring against him to undermine a free and fair election.

“The election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president,” he said, referring to the several women who have come forward in recent days to say Trump had groped or sexually assaulted them. He has denied the claims, calling the women liars.

Earlier Saturday, Trump took to Twitter to warn that “100% fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton Campaign, may poison the minds of the American Voter. FIX!”

“Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted and should be in jail,” he added. “Instead she is running for president in what looks like a rigged election.”

On a similar theme, a prominent Trump supporter who spoke at the GOP convention last summer, Sheriff David Clarke Jr. of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County, tweeted Saturday: “It’s incredible that our institutions of gov, WH, Congress, DOJ, and big media are corrupt & all we do is b----. Pitchforks and torches time.” Clarke, an elected Democrat, illustrated his tweet with a photo showing angry people with clubs and torches.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose decision not to campaign for Trump angered the GOP nominee, made clear he does not share the candidate’s concern about the election’s legitimacy.

“Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity,” said AshLee Strong, speaking for him.

Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign money is tight, at least in comparison with his rival’s resources. Trump began this month with $75 million in his campaign and joint party accounts, he said Saturday in a statement. That’s exactly half of what the Clinton team said it had on hand.

Trump also suggested Saturday that Clinton had been on drugs during the last debate and challenged his rival to a drug test before the final debate Wednesday.

In the Clinton leaks Saturday, transcripts disclosed by WikiLeaks show the presidential nominee generally avoided direct criticism of Wall Street as she examined the causes and responses to the financial meltdown during a series of paid speeches to Goldman Sachs.

The disclosures contain no new bombshells but are likely to reinvigorate concerns among Bernie Sanders supporters that Clinton is too close to Wall Street. Working to relate her speech to her audience, Clinton in one speech likened her experience as secretary of state to business and finance, saying “it’s like anybody’s balance sheet,” with both opportunities and potential liabilities.

In October 2013, the transcripts show, Clinton told bankers she had “great relations” and worked closely with Wall Street as New York’s senator, and said “the jury is still out” on whether the Dodd-Frank financial reforms put in place after the financial crisis had been the right approach. She said more openness from the start could have prevented the uproar on Wall Street over those reforms.