ON POLITICS

Trump to Clinton: You're no Lincoln

Cooper Allen
USA TODAY
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the Oct. 9, 2016, debate in St. Louis.

In perhaps the least shocking development of Sunday night's debate, Donald Trump made clear: He doesn't think Hillary Clinton is on par with Abraham Lincoln.

Clinton was asked about a Friday Wikileaks release in a question from the public that emerged through the Open Debate Coalition's online forum. That release included what were reportedly transcripts of some of Clinton's paid speeches before Wall Street firms, which she had yet to make public. In one, she's quoted as arguing that you need a "public and a private position" at times to achieve things in politics.

At the debate, she said this remark followed the release of the film Lincoln — which depicted the iconic president's efforts to get Congress to ratify the 13th Amendment, prohibiting slavery — and was meant to illustrate how the 16th president had governed so successfully.

Trump pounced, saying Clinton had been "caught in a total lie."

"Now she's blaming the lie on the late great Abraham Lincoln," the GOP nominee said.

“Honest Abe never lied," Trump added, saying that was a "big, big difference" with Clinton.

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Analysis: She called him a misogynist. He said she should go to jail.