Donald Trump embroiled in sex tape storm
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has plunged deeper into controversy, renewing his attack on a former beauty queen by launching a late-night Twitter tirade about her “disgusting” sexual past.
His tweet storm, which began at 3.20am (US time), was followed up by Hillary Clinton’s campaign team pointing to the fact that Trump made a cameo appearance in a soft porn Playboy video in 2000.
Against a backdrop of Trump trying to win women’s votes by presenting himself as the family-friendly candidate, the latest Trump outburst even had many of his staunchest supporters shaking their heads in disbelief.
Trump encouraged Americans to look for a “sex tape” of Venezuela-born 1996 Miss Universe Alicia Machado, which he said would support his case that Clinton and the US media were colluding to set him up for fresh condemnation.
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
For those few people knocking me for tweeting at three o'clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
Clinton responded that “his latest twitter meltdown is unhinged, even for him”. She questioned what sort of man “stays up all night to smear a woman with lies and conspiracy theories?”
A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near the nuclear codes.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 30, 2016
It's pretty telling that Donald Trump thinks the problem with his sexist tweets is the time that they were sent. https://t.co/jF09wLSwao
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 30, 2016
Trump’s Tweets referred to a 2005 Spanish reality show in which Machado was a contestant and appeared on camera in bed with a male contestant.
The grainy footage did not include nudity, though Machado later conceded that she was having sex in the video.
In response BuzzFeed posted a short clip of the 2000 Playboy video, in which Trump pours a bottle of champagne on the Playboy logo of branded limo on a New York street, surrounded by a gaggle of women.
The 2000 video in which Trump briefly appeared.
“Beauty is beauty, and let’s see what happens with New York,” Trump says.
Other scenes from the film feature naked women posing in sexual positions, dancing, bathing and rubbing honey on themselves.
Trump appearing on the cover of Playboy in 1990.
“There’s been a lot of talk about sex tapes today and in a strange turn of events only one adult film has emerged today, and its star is Donald Trump,” said Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill.
Machado has become central to the campaign since Clinton observed during the first presidential debate that Trump had publicly mocked the Venezuela-born woman for gaining weight after she won Miss Universe.
He had referred to Machado as “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping”.
Trump dug himself deeper into a hole this week by contending that Machado’s “massive” weight gain had been “a real problem.”
Machado took to Facebook to say his comments were part of a pattern of “demoralising women,” calling them “cheap lies with bad intentions.”
The thrice-married Trump also warned voters last week that electing Clinton would bring former President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal back to the White House.
All this as Trump released a new ad, titled ‘Motherhood’, starring his daughter Ivanka, designed to target women and families.
In it, Ivanka promises her father will “change outdated labour laws”, provide tax credits for child care and paid maternity leave.
Watch Trump’s latest campaign ad below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebyF5JUUtJ8
– with AAP