Hillary Clinton Talks Donald Trump's Treatment of Women, Doesn't Dwell on Emails
Clinton Attacks 'Bully' Trump while campaigning.
DADE CITY, Fla. -- At the first campaign stop of three on a busy day in the battleground state of Florida, Hillary Clinton took aim at Donald Trump's treatment of women, reminding the public "what we have learned" about the Republican presidential candidate.
Following an introduction by former Miss Universe Alicia Machado -- who accused Trump of calling her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Eating Machine" when she gained weight after winning the then-Trump-owned pageant -- Clinton worked through a list of the businessman's attacks on women, calling Trump a "bully."
"You've got to ask, 'Why does he do these things?'" said Clinton. "Who acts like this? I'll tell you who, a bully, that's who."
Clinton's spirited language about Trump comes as the real estate mogul has closed a double digit gap in national polls over the past week and the FBI has renewed the investigation into her state department emails. Protesters greeted Clinton's motorcade in Dade City and chanted "lock her up" at times during her speech.
The Democratic candidate mentioned the email controversy at events in Ohio Monday and gave a brief statement on Friday, in which she encouraged FBI Director James Comey to release more information about the investigation.
But aboard a flight to Florida Monday afternoon, a senior campaign official said that Clinton would likely avoid addressing the subject every day.
"Obviously, it is something that has gotten a lot of attention and coverage in the last three days. So we did think it was important for her to address it, because voters were hearing about it, and put the right context with it," the official added. "We felt we accomplished that yesterday and moving onto different issues."
As for implications that the story is driving data showing the race becoming more competitive, Clinton's senior campaign official disagreed.
"We do not see any evidence that the Comey story has had an impact on our polling," said the official.
At Clinton's rally, the focus remained on assailing Trump's personal character.
"You know, a lot of [Trump's] supporters don't like to hear this. I don't blame them. If I were supporting him, I wouldn't want to hear it either, to be honest. But I gotta tell you, I learned way back in elementary school, and I learned it in Sunday school: It's not okay to insult people," said Clinton.
Adding that Trump was "wrong about the women and the men of this country," Clinton pitched that a vote in next week's election was a sign of strength against the Republican's behavior.
"He has shown us who he is," said Clinton. "Let us, on Tuesday, show him who we are."
ABC's Liz Kreutz contributed to this report.