Clinton 'sold out' workers, Trump says

She visits U.S. House, promises to help Democrats in congressional races

Hillary Clinton has “virtually done nothing right, she’s virtually done nothing good,” Donald Trump said Wednesday in a speech in New York.
Hillary Clinton has “virtually done nothing right, she’s virtually done nothing good,” Donald Trump said Wednesday in a speech in New York.

NEW YORK -- Donald Trump delivered a scathing and personal critique of Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, accusing her of having "sold out" American workers during her decades-long career in government.


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Hillary Clinton takes the stage at a rally Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C. Responding to criticism from Donald Trump, she told the crowd that “he’s going after me personally because he has no answers on substance.”

"Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States," the businessman said during a speech at the Trump SoHo Hotel in New York.

In his nearly 40-minute speech, Trump sought to portray Bill and Hillary Clinton as dishonest and self-interested, warning that a Hillary Clinton presidency could destabilize the country's "rigged" economy and weaken national security.

His speech misstated facts about Clinton's record and the policies she says she supports, including the suggestion that she wants to "completely open borders" and that refugees who enter the United States are not vetted. He also incorrectly stated that she supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she came out against last year, and said she wants to "abolish" the Second Amendment.

Trump focused a large portion of his speech on blasting international trade deals that he said have come at the expense of American workers, taking particular aim at the Trans-Pacific Partnership and tying Clinton to her husband's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s. Trump said the United States has promoted globalism "to the detriment of the American worker and the American economy itself" and that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would result in the loss of millions of jobs.

"America will be better off once we start making our own products again," Trump said. "We have to bring our manufacturers back to the United States. ... We need those jobs."

In several instances, Trump blasted companies that outsource labor and manufacturing, although many Trump-branded products are made overseas.

"It's not just the political system that's rigged; it's the whole economy. It's rigged by big donors who want to keep wages down. It's rigged by big businesses who want to leave our country," he said.

The business mogul criticized the Clintons for delivering paid speeches and accused the former secretary of state of acceding to the demands of special interests, who he said "totally own her." He blasted the Clintons for accepting donations for their family foundation from foreign governments, including China, during her tenure at the State Department.

Trump blasted her foreign policy judgment. He said her support for the Iraq War and intervention in Libya have contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East and allowed the growth of the Islamic State extremist group.

"No secretary of state has been more wrong more often and in more places than Hillary Clinton. Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched," he said.

Trump also slammed her for using a private email server as secretary of state, which he said could have exposed information about her life to foreign governments that they can use to "blackmail" her.

"In short, Hillary Clinton's tryout for the presidency has produced one deadly foreign policy disaster after another. One by one, they're all bad. She's virtually done nothing right, she's virtually done nothing good," he said. "Her leadership style -- volcanic, impulsive ... disdainful of the rules set for everyone else -- hasn't changed a bit."

Trump said he was one of the earliest to criticize "the rush to war" in Iraq, a talking point he regularly uses on the campaign trail. Trump also initially supported the war.

Ahead of Trump's address, Clinton's campaign sent reporters a compilation of news reports fact-checking or debunking various claims about Clinton previously made by Trump or others. Titled "A Viewer's Guide to Trump's Latest Baseless Attacks Against Hillary Clinton," the Clinton message branded Trump as "a conspiracy theorist who has serious problems with the truth."

Wednesday's speech represented Trump's most high-profile appearance since he fired Corey Lewandowski, his campaign manager, on Monday morning.

Some of Trump's policy proposals were more tempered than they have been in other venues. When discussing the influx of refugees from the Middle East, he did not mention his proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. Instead of calling Muslims complicit in terrorist acts, he said most of them were innocent victims.

"ISIS also threatens peaceful Muslims across the Middle East and peaceful Muslims across the world, who have been terribly victimized by horrible brutality -- and who only want to raise their kids in peace and safety," Trump said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

Trump adopted a more hopeful tone when describing the kind of president he would be. He argued that he, not Clinton, would improve the predicaments of the poor and members of minority groups.

"We stopped believing in what America could do and became reliant on other countries, other people, and other institutions," Trump said. "We lost our sense of purpose and daring. But that's not who we are."

Clinton on religion

Over two consecutive days, Trump has sought to focus his campaign on Clinton. On Tuesday, in a video clip of his remarks, Trump appeared to suggest that the public doesn't know "anything about Hillary in terms of religion."

At a Wednesday rally at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, Clinton pushed back against Trump's questions about her religion and her competence, casting him as a candidate with not much else to say about how he'd lead the nation.

Clinton, who has spoken and written about her faith, drew a quote from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.

"As we Methodists like to say: Do all the good you can for all the people you can in all the ways you can."

Clinton also went after Trump for remarks in which he accused her of being "a world-class liar" who personally profited from her tenure at the State Department.

"Think about it. He's going after me personally because he has no answers on the substance," Clinton told supporters. "So all he can try to do is try to distract us. That's why he's attacking my faith. Sigh."

Also Wednesday, Clinton received a rousing reception from House Democrats in her first stop on Capitol Hill since securing enough delegates and superdelegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Greeted by chants of "Hillary, Hillary," Clinton promised to use her campaign infrastructure to help Democrats win congressional races as part of what she called a "50-state strategy."

"She said, 'I know the difference between having the House and not having the House, and I want the House," recalled Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.

Sanders on convention

As Trump works to right his campaign after weeks of turmoil and lagging fundraising, Clinton was addressing her own challenge: drawing the supporters of Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders. Sanders has neither conceded nor endorsed Clinton.

On Wednesday, he allowed that the party's nomination was likely not in his grasp.

In an interview with C-SPAN, Sanders said in the strongest terms yet that he will not be the Democratic nominee for president. Asked by host Steve Scully whether he would speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Sanders said he did not know.

"It doesn't appear that I'm going to be the nominee, so I'm not going to determine the scope of the convention," Sanders said.

"I've given a few speeches in my life. It would be nice to speak at the Democratic National Convention. If for whatever reason they don't want me to speak, then whatever. But I do think I'll speak at the convention."

With the primaries over, he was less focused on the convention than on what he and his delegates could get the Democratic Party to add to its platform, and what progressive policies Clinton could be encouraged to run on.

"We are negotiating almost every day with the Clinton people, and we want Secretary Clinton to stake out the strongest positions she can on campaign finance reform, on health care, on education -- especially higher education -- on the economy, on the minimum wage," Sanders said.

"She has clearly had to fight her way through a lot of sexism and unfair attacks over the years -- which are based on sexism. But we have disagreements. She is clearly an establishment Democrat."

Sanders said he was not being vetted for vice president, but he suggested that Clinton should pick a "progressive" running mate. "It would be a terrible mistake for her to pick a candidate who is backed by Wall Street," he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Jose A. DelReal and David Weigel of The Washington Post and by Ken Thomas, Lisa Lerer, Erica Werner, Alan Fram and Richard Lardner of The Associated Press.

A Section on 06/23/2016

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