Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Trump makes new attack on Clinton
DONALD Trump has launched a harsh new attack on rival Hillary Clinton in the last week before the US presidential election.
“Her election would mire our government and our country in a constitutional crisis that we cannot afford,” the Republican nominee declared in Grand Rapids, Michigan, yesterday.
He pointed to the FBI’s renewed examination of Democrat Mrs Clinton’s email practices as evidence that the former secretary of state might face a criminal trial as president.
National polls show a tightening race. But with more than 23 million ballots already cast through early voting, it was unclear whether Mr Trump has the time or capacity to dramatically improve his standing over the next week.
Mrs Clinton, defending herself from the new FBI examination, focused on battleground Ohio, a state Mr Trump’s team concedes he must win.
“There is no case here,” she insisted. “Most people have decided a long time ago what they think about all this.”
Later in the day, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook decried what he called a “blatant double standard” following a CNBC report that FBI director James Comey opposed releasing details about possible Russian interference in the US election because it was too close to election day.
Mr Comey issued a letter to congressional leaders on Friday about the FBI’s renewed interest in Mrs Clinton’s emails.
Some Republicans are sceptical that the FBI’s renewed i nterest i n Mrs Clinton’s emails will erase the Democrat’s advantage.
As for Mr Trump’s allegation that a Clinton election might prompt “a constitutional crisis”, the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel said in 1973 that criminally prosecuting a president would unconstitutionally undermine the executive branch. A 2000 memo reached a similar conclusion. Presidents can face civil lawsuits, however.
Meanwhile, the ongoing mystery of Mr Trump’s tax returns arose again.
It was reported yesterday that in the 1990s Mr Trump avoided paying potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes in a way even his own lawyers considered questionable, using a manoeuvre Congress explicitly banned in 2004.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the billionaire tycoon’s approach was appropriate.