Donald Trump brings up 1999 rape allegation against Bill Clinton as campaign turns ugly

In a preview of the ugly gutter politics to which the US general election is poised to descend, Donald Trump has accused former President Clinton of rape.

The presumptive Republican has made clear that he believes nothing is off the table as he prepares for an autumn showdown with Hillary Clinton, particularly not the sexual transgressions - admitted or alleged - leveled at at her husband.

Mr Trump was talking on Fox News about a largely negative article published in the New York Times about the candidate’s relationships with various women over the years.

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“By the way, you know, it's not like the worst things, OK,” Mr Trump told the host, Sean Hannity.

“You look at what Clinton’s gone through with all of the problems and all of the things that he's done.”

Mr Hannity, a major figure in conservative media circles, went on to question whether the newspaper would interview a number of women who have made allegations agaisnt Mr Clinton. All three of the women he named had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.

“In one case, it’s about exposure. In another case, it’s about groping and fondling and touching against a woman's will,” Mr Hannity said.

“And rape,” Mr Trump responded. Mr Hannity then replied: “And rape.”

Allegations of womanising, extramarital affairs and abuse have trickled out over the course of Bill Clinton's political life, including what his campaign referred to as “bimbo eruptions” when he first ran for president in 1992.

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More allegations of misbehavior emerged after investigators in 1997 started looking into Mr Clinton's sexual encounters with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Mr Clinton was impeached over the Lewinsky affaie, the Associated Press said.

In 1998, he agreed to an $850,000 settlement with an Arkansas state worker, who had accused Mr Clinton of exposing himself and making indecent propositions when Mr Clinton was the state's governor. The settlement included no apology or admission of guilt.

One woman, a nurse, in 1999 claimed she was raped by then-state Attorney General Clinton at a Little Rock hotel in 1978. Another woman, a White House volunteer, claimed Mr Clinton fondled her when she met privately with him at the White House in 1993 to seek a job. Ms Clinton denied both the allegations.

Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mr Clinton, said in a statement: “Trump is doing what he does best, attacking when he feels wounded and dragging the American people through the mud for his own gain.”

He added: “If that's the kind of campaign he wants to run, that's his choice.”

Mr Trump has made it clear he intends to make Mr Clinton's sexual history a key issue in his campaign, and has labelled Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton as an “enabler”.

Mrs Clinton has refused to respond to the comments, saying she has nothing to say about Mr Trump “and how he's running his campaign”.

Yet, the Clinton campaign will certainly hit back. While Ms Clinton will avoid any attacks in an attempt to appear above the fray, she will use other senior Democrats to attack Mr Trump and raise questions about his failed business and his comments about immigrants and women.

In recent weeks, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a favourite of American liberals, has engaged lengthy battles with Mr Trump on social media, insisting that she will not be intimidated by him.