Clinton tells Lincoln story, Trump says she’s no ‘Honest Abe’

Hillary Clinton conjured a famous moment by Abraham Lincoln to make a point during Sunday night’s presidential debate, and Donald Trump used “Honest Abe” to throw the reference right back at her.

The exchange started with a question posed by moderator Martha Raddatz about the recent WikiLeaks dump of Clinton emails which included excerpts from her controversial paid speeches. 

RADDATZ: “This question involves Wikileaks release of reported excerpts as Secretary Clinton paid speeches which she has refused to release and one line in particular in which you, Secretary Clinton, reportedly say you need both a public and private position on certain issues... is it okay for politicians to be two-faced? Is it acceptable for a politician to have a private stance on issues?”

Clinton tried to explain the reference she had originally made in the speech, but it didn’t land very well, especially with Trump.

CLINTON: “Well, as I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln after having seen the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie called “Lincoln.” It was a master class watching President Lincoln get the Congress to approve the 13th amendment. It was principled and it was strategic. And I was making the point that it is hard sometimes to get the Congress to do what you want to do and you have to keep working at it and yes, President Lincoln was trying to convince some people, he used some arguments, convincing other people, he used other arguments. That was a great -- I thought a great display of presidential leadership.”

TRUMP: “Look, now she's blaming -- she got caught in a total lie her papers went out to all her friends at the banks, Goldman Sachs and everybody else, and she said things, WikiLeaks that just came out and she lied. Now she's blaming the lie on the late great Abraham Lincoln. That's one that I haven’t - okay Honest Abe never lied. That’s the good thing that's a big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you. That's a big big difference, we're talking about some difference.”

Debate watchers reacted in real time on Twitter, including one who provided context for Clinton’s original speech.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin

ALSO

WikiLeaks email shows Clinton told San Diego firm she 'did all I could' to help Wall Street prosper

Donald Trump won the debate but had two big losses Sunday

Actually, Martha Raddatz may have won the presidential debate