Hillary Clinton unloaded on Donald Trump’s criticism of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado on Friday, including his late-night tweet urging people to check out her “sex tape.”
Clinton slammed the “smear” of Machado and said it reflects the Republican’s “contempt” for women.
It’s just the latest development in a controversy that has raged since Monday night’s presidential debate, when Clinton invoked Machado, a 39-year-old Venezuelan actress, to attack Trump and his treatment of women.
Trump has fought back hard, making Machado the dominant story on cable news in the aftermath of a debate where he at times struggled.
Aside from accusing Machado of appearing in a sex tape, Trump’s late-night tweets said the former beauty queen has “duped” the Democrat into defending her “terrible” past.
Machado responded to Trump on Friday in an Instagram post.
“The Republican candidate and his campaign team are again generating attacks, insults and trying to revive defamations and false accusations about my life,” Machado wrote. “All with the purpose of intimidating me, humiliating me and unbalancing me once more.
“The attacks are slander and cheap lies generated with bad intentions and no basis that have been spread by tabloids.”
Machado was photographed topless for Playboy and reportedly appeared in a risqué but not nude scene on a Spanish reality TV show, in bed with a male contestant.
Fact-checkers have rated the claim that she appeared in a sex tape as “mostly false,” noting that searches for “Alicia Machado Porn Star” or similar phrases turn up videos on pornographic websites, but they feature women who aren’t her.
Clinton said Trump’s attacks on Machado are just the latest example of the GOP nominee insulting women.
Clinton additionally tweeted a link to a Los Angeles Times report from Thursday that said Trump wanted to fire unattractive female employees at one of his golf courses.
Machado won the Miss Universe contest in 1996, when Trump owned it. She says Trump insulted her appearance and weight while she held the title.
“He called this woman ‘Miss Piggy,’ then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping,’ because she was Latina,” Clinton said at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
“Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado and she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”
Clinton’s campaign released an ad shortly after Monday’s bout which shows footage of a press event in which Trump invited reporters to watch Machado work out.
Trump talks about Machado gaining 60 to 70 pounds in one of the clips, adding she is “somebody who likes to eat.”
The Republican businessman doubled down on that comment Tuesday morning.
“When she brought up that person that became — I know that person. It was a Miss Universe person. She was the worst we ever had,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.”
“Ultimately a winner. They had a tremendously difficult time with that Miss Universe. … She was a winner, and she gained a massive amount of weight, and we had a real problem. We had a real problem with her.”
Clinton leads Trump, her GOP rival, by about 3 points in the latest RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
Updated at 12:34 p.m.