COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa _ Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on Hillary Clinton's integrity Wednesday, saying the former secretary of State "would put the Oval Office up for sale" if she wins the presidency.
"How many more Clinton scandals can this country take?" the Republican presidential nominee asked supporters at a rally of Christian conservatives in this western Iowa city on the Missouri River. "One after another after another _ you know the story, folks."
Trump did not mention the White House sex scandal that led to the impeachment of his Democratic rival's husband, Bill Clinton, even as surrogates continued to raise the issue in television interviews. Trump said Tuesday that he considered mentioning the former president's marital infidelity at Monday's debate, but refrained out of respect for the couple's daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
But at the Iowa rally, Trump did accuse Hillary Clinton of a "criminal cover-up" of the emails she exchanged on a private server when she was secretary of State. The Justice Department declined to prosecute Clinton her after an extensive investigation that concluded, as FBI Director James Comey put it, that Clinton was "extremely careless" with government secrets.
Trump also hammered the Clintons for taking big speaking fees and donations to their family foundation from Wall Street, saying his opponent sold access to her government office.
"She disgraced the office of secretary of State by putting it up for sale and if she ever got the chance, she would put the Oval Office up for sale too," said Trump, whose chief fundraiser is former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin.
Trump's attacks are aimed at exploiting one of Clinton's top vulnerabilities: Many voters find her untrustworthy. Independent fact checkers have found that Trump makes demonstrably false statements more often than any other modern presidential candidate, but polls have that he scores higher than Clinton on questions of who is more honest.
