Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani labeled Hillary Clinton "too stupid to be president" because she did not know about her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Giuliani, a top surrogate for Republican nominee Donald Trump, castigated Clinton for what he said was an effort to shame Lewinsky, then an intern, following the exposure of Lewinsky's sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton while he was in office.
"The president of the United States, her husband, disgraced this country with what he did in the Oval Office, and she didn't just stand by him, she attacked Monica Lewinsky," Giuliani said in video posted on social media by a website focused on coverage of millennials. "And after being married to Bill Clinton for 20 years, if you didn't know the moment Monica Lewinsky said that Bill Clinton violated her that she was telling the truth, then you're too stupid to be president."
When confronted with similar remarks in the past, Clinton has noted that her husband concealed the sexual relationship not only from the nation, but also from his family.
In later years, Hillary Clinton, in personal correspondence with a friend, described Lewinsky as a "narcissistic loony toon."
Giuliani went on to say he would have raised questions about the Lewinsky affair during the debate. Trump hinted during the debate that he was tempted to bring up a "rough" topic, but he said in several interviews after the event that he restrained himself out respect for Chelsea Clinton, the couple's daughter.
"When she hit me at the end with the women, I was going to hit her with her husband's women and I decided I shouldn't do it because her daughter was in the room," Trump said Tuesday morning on "Fox & Friends."
"I didn't feel comfortable doing it with Chelsea in the room. I think Chelsea is a fine young lady," he said.
Trump, who lags Clinton among women voters, was assailed by the former secretary of state for his past rhetoric about women.
"This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs," Clinton said during the debate.
