Trump uses policy speech to attack media,
promises to sue accusers
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[October 24, 2016]
By Emily Stephenson
GETTSYBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump promised on Saturday to foil a
proposed deal for AT&T to buy Time Warner if he wins the Nov. 8
election, arguing it was an example of a "power structure" rigged
against both him and voters.
Trump, whose candidacy has caused ruptures in his party, listed his
policy plans for the first 100 days of his presidency in a campaign
speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, near the site of a Civil War
battlefield and a celebrated address by President Abraham Lincoln.
But he also defiantly raised personal grievances, describing how, if
elected, he would address them from the White House in a way he said
would benefit Americans.
The speech was billed by his campaign as a major outlining of his
policies and principles. Many of the policy ideas Trump listed on
Saturday were familiar, not least his promise to build a wall on the
border with Mexico to deter illegal immigration and to renegotiate trade
deals and to scrap the Obamacare health policy.
Moments after promising Americans that he represented a hopeful break
from the status quo, he promised to sue nearly a dozen women who have
come forward in the last two weeks to accuse him of sexual assault,
calling them liars.
And he added a new threat to his repeated castigation of U.S. media
corporations, which he says cover his campaign unfairly to help
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
"They're trying desperately to suppress my vote and the voice of the
American people," Trump, who often rails against media outlets and
journalists covering his events, told supporters in his speech. Trump
has not provided evidence for his assertion that the election would be
rigged.
"As an example of the power structure I'm fighting, AT&T is buying Time
Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration
because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,"
Trump said.
Telecommunications company AT&T Inc <T.N> has agreed in principle to buy
Time Warner Inc <TWX.N>, one of the country's largest film and
television companies, for about $85 billion and an announcement could be
made as early as Saturday.
Trump also said he would look at "breaking" up the acquisition by
Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> of the media company NBC Universal in 2013.
"Deals like this destroy democracy," he said in explaining his apparent
deviation from the traditional Republican position that seeks to
minimize the taxation and regulation of American companies.
Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, the online retailer, should also be paying
"massive taxes", Trump said, reminding voters that Amazon chief
executive Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, a newspaper whose
coverage Trump dislikes.
Trump, a wealthy New York building developer and television star,
acknowledged in a debate with Clinton on Oct. 9 that he had used
investment losses to avoid paying taxes. The New York Times reported on
Oct. 1 that Trump's declared loss of $916 million in 1995 was so large
that he could legally have avoided paying any federal income taxes for
up to 18 years.
At a campaign event later on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
Clinton criticized Trump's stance on news outlets, noting that she
receives negative coverage too.
"When he blows up at a journalist or criticizes the press and goes on
and on and on – you know, I get criticized by the press," she said. "I
believe that's part of our democratic system."
In a statement, Clinton spokeswoman Christina Reynolds described the
speech as "rambling, unfocused, full of conspiracy theories and attacks
on the media, and lacking in any real answers for American families."
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Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump delivers remarks
at a campaign event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 22,
2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
CHANCE OF A LIFETIME
Although Trump on Saturday described his plans at least in part as a
response to his belief media organizations had treated him unfairly,
he argued that less wealthy voters had even greater cause to worry.
"When a simple phone call placed with the biggest newspapers or
television networks gets them wall-to-wall coverage with virtually
no fact-checking whatsoever, here is why this is relevant to you,"
he said. "If they can fight somebody like me who has unlimited
resources to fight back, just look at what they could do to you,
your jobs, your security, your education, your health care."
Trump, who has said he may not accept the election's outcome if he
loses, is trailing Clinton in most polls - although he has narrowed
the gap according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.
Clinton maintained her commanding lead in the race to win the
Electoral College, however, and claim the U.S. presidency, a
Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project poll released on Saturday
showed.
Trump has bluntly said that Mexico will pay for the wall, an idea
the Mexican government has scoffed at. He tweaked his language on
Saturday, saying the United States would fully fund the wall with
the understanding that Mexico would reimburse the cost.
Trump's campaign was thrown into crisis two weeks ago when a 2005
video was released showing him bragging about groping and kissing
women, prompting several prominent Republicans to announce they
would not vote for him.
Since then, at least 10 women have said Trump made unwanted sexual
advances, including groping or kissing, in incidents from the early
1980s to 2007, all of which Trump has denied. On Saturday, Jessica
Drake, an adult film actor, accused Trump of pressuring her to have
sex with him 10 years ago when they met at a golf tournament. After
that, she said a man, possibly Trump, called her to offer her
$10,000 if she would have sex with him, which she declined. Trump's
campaign said the accusations were false.
Trump, 70, said he was being attacked because he was an outsider who
had never previously run for office, which he argues is a virtue.
"The fact that Washington and the Washington establishment has tried
so hard to stop our campaign is only more proof that our campaign
represents the kind of change that only arrives once in a lifetime,"
he said.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Jonathan Allen; Additional
reporting by Amanda Becker in Pittsburgh; editing by Grant McCool)
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