Donald Trump's campaign manager praised the GOP nominee Tuesday for his "restraint" during the first presidential debate for not bringing up what "millions of Americans had on their minds" — former President Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions.
"It was an exercise in restraint," Kellyanne Conway told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program.
"It's a presidential virtue," Conway said. "I think his restraint in there (despite) what millions of Americans had on their minds. She's going to take you on on a comment you've made here and there about women, and yet her husband has admitted to having affairs, and, of course, including one with an intern in the White House when he was president of the United States, and paid out a settlement to Paula Jones."
Conway noted that Trump wouldn't talk about the issue because Chelsea Clinton was in the audience, but said that that doesn't stop Clinton from "'running hundreds of millions of dollars of negative ads against" him.
Conway continued that the issue will grow more important in upcoming days, "when people realize what he didn't say, what was conspicuous about his absence. It doesn't mean people won't think it."
It was widely reported over the past week that Trump hadn't done a great deal of debate
preparation before Monday night's event, but Conway insisted he did "a lot of debate prep."
"People are trying to diminish how incredibly serious he is," said Conway. "He didn't need to run
for president. People run for fame, status and power. He had all of that. She's the one who has got that typical D.C. political resume...when it comes to debate preparation, he did take rapid-fire questions for quite a while from a number of us and he handled them beautifully."
Some of moderator Lester Holt's questions, she continued, "were completely predictable.
"We knew they were coming. We know what the obsessions are particularly in the mainstream media so that didn't come as a surprise, but I also think Donald Trump if he's guilty of anything, it's answering every question thoroughly, as opposed to her deflecting," Conway said.
"Anybody watching that debate last night did not see in Hillary Clinton a change-maker, a disrupter, somebody who can credibly say with a straight face she's going to change the status quo in Washington."
She also denied the Trump campaign has attacked Holt, an NBC anchorman, for his performance.
"Mr. Trump and I have both said publicly and I'll repeat it here that Lester Holt did a good job, he did a great job under very tough circumstances. One of things that nobody is ever satisfied with is why wasn't this or that issue raised."
On CNN's "New Day" program, Conway addressed Trump's stance on climate change, after his previous statements were discussed at the debate.
"He believes that global warming is naturally occurring," Conway told CNN's Alisyn Camerota, agreeing that Trump does not believe climate change to be a man-made problem. "There are shifts naturally occurring."
Monday night, Clinton accused Trump of believing "climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese," a statement Trump strongly denied.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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