Dings Trump

Clinton dings Trump on disputed charity claims

By Gabriel Debenedetti

Hillary Clinton opened a new line of attack on Donald Trump on Sunday, ripping into his allegedly false claims of philanthropy by reading at length from a Saturday Washington Post story.

“We’ve heard some outrageous things in this campaign; I’m sure we’ll hear more in the next nine days. But I got to tell you, I was beginning to think that nothing we learned about Donald Trump could surprise me anymore,” said the Democratic nominee, campaigning at Manors, an LGBT nightclub here. “But yesterday, The Washington Post published a report that was truly stunning."

Recounting the story’s opening anecdote about Trump appearing at a charity function for children with HIV and AIDS despite not donating to it, Clinton asked, “Who does that?"

“The same kind of person who would pull a bait-and-switch on a high school chess team,” she continued, launching into another section from the story that ended with a woman donating to the chess team Trump spurned.

“The coach remembers this woman saying, ‘I am ashamed to be the same species as this man,’” Clinton said, to cheers.

The new front, which fit into a longer version of Clinton’s stump speech — complete with ample criticism of her opponent — came two days after Clinton’s campaign was rocked by a cryptic letter sent by FBI Director James Comey to Congress about the state of the investigation into her email arrangement.

At times, Clinton appeared to be reading directly from the Post investigation.

“A lot of what we’ve heard him say is part of a lifelong pattern. And here’s what The Washington Post concludes: For as long as he has been rich and famous, he has wanted people to believe he’s generous. He spent years constructing an image as a philanthropist by appearing at charity events and by making very public — even nationally televised — promises to give his own money away. It was, in large part, a big facade,” she said at the rally, her third event of the day, which came just as Trump was campaigning in Las Vegas.

“Now, of course, because he’s refused to release his tax returns, we don’t even know if he’s ever given anything. But here’s what we do know: With Donald, it’s always Donald Trump first and everyone else last. He abuses his power, he games the system, and doesn’t care who is left holding the bag."