Trump, Clinton tension seeps into jokes
at annual charity dinner
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[October 21, 2016]
By Amanda Becker and Emily Stephenson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. presidential
campaign tensions seeped into a high-profile charity dinner on Thursday
as Donald Trump joked about sending Hillary Clinton to prison and she
alluded to Trump’s statements about women by estimating how he might
rate the Statue of Liberty's attractiveness a four, maybe a five.
The candidates shared the stage at a formal dinner in New York City
named for the state's former governor, Alfred E. Smith, less than 24
hours after finishing their third and final presidential debate in Las
Vegas on Wednesday.
The annual event, which raises money for needy children, typically
offers presidential hopefuls a respite from the tension of the campaign
trail. But Trump and Clinton opted to instead trade sharpened barbs that
reflected the acrimony of the 2016 White House campaign.
Trump spoke first and set the room on edge with bitter jabs at his
rival, with his label of Clinton as “corrupt” drawing boos.
"With all of the heated back and forth between my opponent and me at the
debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each
other," Trump said. "In fact just before taking the dais, Hillary
accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, 'Pardon me.'"
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"And I very politely replied, 'Let me talk to you about that after I get
into office,'" said Trump, a Republican whose supporters chant "lock her
up" at rallies.
Clinton, whose remarks elicited both polite applause and derision,
riffed off Trump's derogatory remarks about women's appearances, such as
joking in a 2002 radio interview that they become less attractive after
age 35.
"Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, maybe a five if
she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair," Clinton said of
the New York City landmark.
"Come to think of it, you know what would be a good number for a woman?
45," Clinton said. The president elected on Nov. 8 will be the 45th in
U.S. history.
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![](../images/102116pics/news_g13.jpg)
Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) reacts to a
joke by Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) at the
Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner in New York, U.S. October
20, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/21/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png)
Trump and Clinton sat just a seat apart on the dais, separated by
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. At the event’s
conclusion, they shook hands – a gesture they avoided at Wednesday’s
debate.
But the tone of both candidates’ remarks was a departure from the
past, when political figures and presidential candidates have stuck
to a largely self-deprecating and good-natured brand of humor.
At one point at the event, which raised $6 million for Catholic
charities supporting children, Trump said Clinton was “pretending
not to hate Catholics.”
Trump was referring to the apparently hacked personal emails of
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, published by Wikileaks,
which show Clinton staffers criticizing high-profile figures for
embracing Catholicism as the most “politically acceptable” of
socially conservative religions.
Alfred Smith IV, the evening's host, perhaps best reflected the
tension in the room, and the campaign, in his introductory remarks:
"This has been a campaign for the history books," he said. "It has
also been a campaign for the psychiatry books."
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker; Editing by Michael
Perry)
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