Trump, Clinton face off
Both nominees buff credentials on foreign policy
NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, giving the each candidate fresh bragging rights about their knowledge of foreign policy and readiness to lead the nation on the eve of their first presidential debate.
About 75 million viewers are expected to tune in tonight amid great uncertainty about what they’ll see from the leastpopular presidential hopefuls in history.
Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump will meet 9 p.m. on MSNBC for their first debate in a virtual dead heat in the race for the White House, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday, with the Democratic nominee’s August advantage erased after recent difficulties and the GOP nominee still facing doubts about his qualifications and temperament even as reluctant Republicans are falling in line behind him.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu discussed “at length” Israel’s use of a fence to help secure its borders, an example Mr. Trump frequently cites when he’s talking about the wall he wants to build between the U.S. and Mexico.
“Trump recognized that Israel and its citizens have suffered far too long on the front lines of Islamic terrorism,” the campaign said in a statement. “He agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Israeli people want a just and lasting peace with their neighbors, but that peace will only come when the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish State.”
And amid debate preparations that reportedly included a focus on Mr. Trump’s personality, Ms. Clinton met with the
prime minister later in the day, also in New York. The Israeli leader has sought to project neutrality after perceptions arose in 2012 that he favored Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama.
The meeting was designed to put Israel on good footing with the next U.S. president. But it also served to showcase the candidates’ expertise in foreign policy in the shadow of their first debate today, six weeks before Election Day. Ms. Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, often says that Mr. Trump does not know enough about the world and lacks the temperament to be president. Mr. Trump has argued that he has extensive experience with foreign policy through his career as a business executive and blames Ms. Clinton for many of the nation’s stumbles in foreign policy.
Meanwhile, the candidates deployed their top supporters to the Sunday shows to take early jabs at their opponents and lower expectations for the showdown.
Facts and who will determine them during the 90minute debate seemed to be a top concern of the campaigns’ strategists given Mr. Trump’s habit of saying things that are untrue and the public’s general distrust of Ms. Clinton.
Robby Mook, Ms. Clinton’s campaign manager, told ABC’s “This Week” that he is concerned Mr. Trump will continue his habit of sometimes saying things that aren’t true and still get a passing grade. He called on moderator Lester Holt to correct any inaccuracies. But Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said it’s not the job of debate moderators to fact check.
Mr. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Mike Pence, meanwhile, said that Gennifer Flowers will not attend the debate. Mr. Trump had tweeted that if frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban attended the showdown, he’d put Ms. Flowers, the former mistress of Ms. Clinton’s husband, Bill, in the audience too. Ms. Conway said that Ms. Flowers had a right to be there if “somebody else gives her a ticket.” But Mr. Pence drew a harder line.
“Gennifer Flowers will not be attending the debate tomorrow night,” Mr. Pence said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Ms. Conway on ABC defended the tweet, saying Mr. Trump “wants to remind people that he’s a great counterpuncher.”
Also in the final hours before tonight’s debate, both Mr. Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine, DVa. — his party’s vice presidential nominee — offered up their testimonies about the character of their running mates.
The Republican candidate was focused on other matters Sunday.
Mr. Trump’s campaign said that during his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu — whom he has known for years — the Republican presidential nominee promised, “extraordinary strategic, technological, military and intelligence cooperation between the two countries” if he’s elected.
After Ms. Clinton’s meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, one of her senior aides said she “reaffirmed her unwavering commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship and her plan to take our partnership to the next level.”
The first of three scheduled debates between Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump comes amid heightened fears of terrorism and unrest over police shootings of African-American men.