Trump, Clinton In Second Presidential Debate

MEP: The US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have met on stage for a second debate in the run-up to the US 2016 presidential election as Trump reels from the release of a recording of his lewd comments about groping women.

The debate was held at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, on Sunday.

Both Trump and Clinton were asked what would they do about the situation in Aleppo, which the question – asked via Facebook – compared to the Holocaust.

Clinton blamed the situation in Aleppo on the Syrian government and Russia, accusing Moscow of not paying “any attention to ISIS” but only being “interested in keeping Assad in charge.”

“We need some leverage with he Russians because they’re not going to come to the negotiation table without leverage,” Clinton said, repeating her calls for establishing a no-fly zone and arming the Kurds, but acknowledging that sending US troops on the ground would not work.

“I would not use American ground forces in Syria, I think that would be a very serious mistake,” Clinton said.

“She talks rebels, but she doesn’t know who the rebels are.” Trump replied. “Almost everything she’s done in foreign policy, it’s been a mistake and it’s been a disaster.”

Trump took issue with Clinton’s claim that Russia was not fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

“Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS. Iran is killing ISIS. And those three have now lined up together because of our weak policy,” he said.

“I think it would be great if we got along with Russia. We could fight ISIS together,” Trump had said earlier in the evening.

What would happen if Aleppo falls, asked ABC’s Martha Raddatz.

“Aleppo… I think that it basically has fallen,” Trump replied.

The candidates smiled at each other but did not shake hands when they were introduced on stage.

The Republican nominee seemingly dismissed the significance of the vulgar language he used toward women a decade ago, apologizing for his conduct but repeatedly saying his remarks were just “locker room talk.”

With Hillary Clinton’s husband and daughter watching from the audience, Donald Trump lashed into Bill Clinton’s infidelities, calling him “abusive.” Trump said he would appoint a special prosecutor as president to investigate her — and even threatened that she would be jailed under his administration.

Clinton made clear that her trouble with Trump goes beyond the partisan clash typical of a presidential campaign. She said she spent much of the past 48 hours thinking about the video that shows Trump making lewd and sexually aggressive remarks about women. She said that she had differed before with Republicans over policy.

Trump had said there is “zero chance” he will drop out of the race, amid growing pressure from within the Republican Party for him to be replaced by another candidate. His running mate, Mike Pence has said he “cannot defend” Trump.

Clinton, on the other hand, rejected Trump’s defence in his apology following the leak, saying the vulgar comments reflect “who Donald Trump is” and what he “thinks about women, what he does to women.”

During the debate, Trump insisted he had not approached women without their consent but said he was “embarrassed” by the tape. He constantly tried to redivert the conversation even when challenged by CNN’s Anderson Cooper to his plans to “Make America Great Again,” saying he would go hard after ISIS for example.