TOLEDO, Ohio -- Returning to Ohio for the first time in a month, Hillary Clinton tried to make up for lost time Monday with a populist pitch aimed at upending rival Donald Trump in a battleground state where he has tapped into voters' economic anxieties.
RELATED ARTICLES
http://www.arkansas…">Stop raising funds, Trump charity toldhttp://www.arkansas…">Let Syrians in, Indiana re-told
"He abuses his power, games the system and puts his own interests ahead of the country's," Clinton said during a rally in Toledo, one of two stops in Ohio.
Trump on Monday called for strengthening the nation's defenses against cyberattacks, saying that as president he would create a joint law enforcement task force to handle cybersecurity as well as offensive cyberwarfare.
He also set off a debate about how post-traumatic stress should be discussed, telling a group of veterans on Monday that some members of the military develop mental health issues because they are not "strong" and "can't handle it."
[INTERACTIVE: The 2016 election in Arkansas]
Clinton was away from Ohio nearly all of September. During that time, Trump displayed strength in the state in public-opinion polls, helped by his appeal with Ohio's white working-class voters.
In her economic appeal to Ohio voters, Clinton condemned big corporate actors who she said protect their own profits at the expense of workers and their communities.
She also seized upon a report by The New York Times that Trump may not have paid income taxes for years after a more than $900 million loss in 1995. "What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?" she asked.
"After he made all those bad bets and lost all that money, he didn't lift a finger to protect his employees, or the small businesses and contractors he'd hired, or the people of Atlantic City, [N.J.,]" Clinton said. "They all got hammered, while he was busy with his accountants figuring out how he could keep living like a billionaire."
She said Trump's tax proposals benefit him and his companies the most -- and that he would continue to look out for himself and big businesses if elected president.
"Trump represents the same rigged system he claims he will change," Clinton said. "Trump's plan would cut his own taxes even more. He'd open the loopholes even wider."
Trump meets with vets
Trump spoke Monday to a group of retired military veterans in Reston, Va., calling for strengthening the nation's defenses.
"Cyberattacks from foreign governments -- especially China, Russia, North Korea, along with nonstate terrorist actors and organized criminal groups -- constitute one of our most critical national security concerns," Trump said. "The scope of our cybersecurity problem is enormous. Our government, our businesses, our trade secrets and our citizens -- most sensitive information -- are all facing constant cyberattacks and reviews by the enemy."
Trump, who once suggested that Russia hack Clinton's emails, also stressed the importance of being able to wage "crippling" cyberattacks against the nation's adversaries, calling it "the warfare of the future."
If elected, he said, he would instruct the Justice Department to create a task force, in conjunction with international, federal, state and local law enforcement, "to crush this still-developing area of crime."
During the question-and-answer session, the Republican nominee addressed the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder, calling for a "very, very robust" mental health program for veterans. Then Trump seemed to imply that handling the trauma of war is a question of strength.
"When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over," he said. "And you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it."
The comments were greeted by critics as clumsy at best and offensive at worst. Phillip Carter, an Army veteran who previously served in President Barack Obama's administration, tweeted that Trump's comments were "uncaring, unprofessional and unpresidential."
Clinton's campaign wrote on her Twitter feed: "Veterans who experience [post-traumatic stress] are stronger than we'll ever understand. We owe them nothing short of world-class care."
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a Trump adviser, released a statement through the campaign that blamed the media for taking Trump's words out of context "in order to deceive voters and veterans." He suggested Trump was simply "highlighting the challenges veterans face when returning home after serving their country."
Numerous groups supporting veterans challenge the idea that those who seek treatment "can't handle" trauma they have experienced.
The veterans website Task & Purpose has labeled post-traumatic stress being a sign of weakness as its No. 1 myth about the condition. The Department of Veterans Affairs suggests that seeking help for post-traumatic stress is "a sign of problem solving, not a sign of weakness."
At an afternoon rally in Pueblo, Colo., Trump responded to the criticism over his taxes, saying he "brilliantly used" tax laws to his advantage and bounced back from the loss while others in his field fell flat in the 1990s.
Trump also pitched himself as an underdog who has overcome obstacles time and again in his career and, now, on the campaign trail.
He riffed on other issues at the rally as well, saying the country is growing more divided with "race riots on our streets on a monthly basis," complaining about the quality of his microphone at the first debate and calling the Commission on Presidential Debates "a joke."
Apprentice behavior
Also on Monday, The Associated Press reported that in his years as a reality TV boss on The Apprentice, Trump repeatedly demeaned women, according to show insiders.
The AP interviewed more than 20 people -- former crew members, editors and contestants -- who described behavior by Trump behind the scenes of the show, in which aspiring capitalists were given tasks to perform as they competed for jobs working for him.
The staff and contestants agreed to recount their experiences as Trump's behavior toward women has become a core issue in the presidential campaign. Interviewed separately, they gave concurring accounts of Trump's conduct on the set.
Eight former crew members recalled that he repeatedly made lewd comments about a camerawoman who he said had a nice rear, comparing her beauty to that of his daughter, Ivanka.
During one season, Trump called for female contestants to wear shorter dresses that also showed more cleavage, according to contestant Gene Folkes. Several cast members said Trump had one female contestant twirl before him so he could ogle her figure.
Randal Pinkett, who won the program in 2005 and who has recently criticized Trump during the businessman's run for president, said he remembered Trump talking about which female contestants he wanted to sleep with, even though Trump had married former model Melania Knauss earlier that year. "He was like, 'Isn't she hot, check her out,' kind of gawking, something to the effect of 'I'd like to hit that,'" Pinkett said.
Former producer Katherine Walker said Trump frequently talked about women's bodies during the five seasons she worked with him and that he speculated about which female contestant would be "a tiger in bed."
The Trump campaign issued a denial. "These outlandish, unsubstantiated, and totally false claims fabricated by publicity-hungry, opportunistic, disgruntled former employees, have no merit whatsoever," said Hope Hicks, Trump's campaign spokesman. She declined to answer specific questions that were emailed and also declined an interview request.
Other cast and crew members interviewed said they had positive, professional experiences with Trump, and added that they had never heard comments that made them uncomfortable.
Contestant Poppy Carlig, who performed the twirl, said she considered Trump's request to be "playful banter."
Vice presidential debate
Clinton and Trump's running mates, meanwhile, were preparing to take the stage at 8 p.m. tonight for the only vice presidential debate, at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. They'll face their biggest audience since the party conventions in July.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., have mostly stayed out of the headlines since then. Both readily admit to being the boring half of the ticket.
"I recognize I'm kind of a B-list Republican celebrity, so thank you for coming out tonight," Pence said in late July during his first solo campaign appearance.
During a June appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Kaine responded to criticism that he's boring by agreeing. "I am boring," he said. "But boring is the fastest-growing demographic in this country."
Pence said at a rally Monday night north of Richmond, Va., that he expects the debate against Kaine to focus on the presidential candidates who chose them as running mates. But he added that "I kind of hope we get to talk about our records as well."
The candidates have been preparing for weeks. During a news conference in mid-September, Kaine said he was reviewing policy briefings when he found out that Clinton had nearly collapsed at a 9/11 memorial event in New York City. Robert Barnett, a Washington lawyer, is playing Pence in mock debates for Kaine.
Pence and his advisers have been preparing for the debate for months, said his spokesman Marc Lotter. Pence visited Wisconsin last week for a final set of mock debates, with Gov. Scott Walker acting as the stand-in for Kaine.
Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace, Ken Thomas, Chad Day and Garance Burke of The Associated Press; by Ashley Parker of The New York Times; by Dan Lamothe, Abby Phillip, David Weigel, Sean Sullivan, Jenna Johnson and John Wagner of The Washington Post; and by Arit John of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 10/04/2016