Candidates spar on tax, private email server

Mrs Hillary Clinton and Mr Donald Trump traded blows on the debate stage over the Democrat’s use of a private email server as Secretary of State, and the Republican billionaire’s refusal to release his tax history.

A revealing moment for Mr Trump during their crucial first White House debate came when moderator Lester Holt asked him why he would not release his tax returns, as other presidential candidates have done for four decades.

“I don’t mind releasing — I’m under a routine audit,” Mr Trump said, then insisted that his financial disclosure form was available to the public, even though it lacks extensive details.

Mr Holt pressed him, saying that he was allowed to release his returns even under audit. Mr Trump dodged the question.

Mrs Clinton seized on the issue, saying: “It must be something really important, even terrible, that he’s trying to hide,” she said, adding that it might be that his net worth is less than the US$10 billion (S$13.6 billion) he claims, or that he hasn’t given much to charity, or that he owes money to Wall Street and foreign banks.

Mr Trump quickly criticised Mrs Clinton for using a private email server as Secretary of State. “I will release my tax returns against my lawyer’s wishes when she releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted,” Mr Trump said.

Mrs Clinton shot back that such a challenge was “another example of bait and switch” tactic by Mr Trump. “I have no reason to believe that he’s ever going to release his tax returns, because there’s something he’s hiding,” Mrs Clinton said.

While Democrats have seized on Mr Trump’s refusal to release tax data, Mrs Clinton’s use of private email while as the nation’s top diplomat has hounded her throughout the 15-month duration of her presidential campaign.

In December 2014, after a formal request by the State Department, Mrs Clinton turned over more than 30,000 emails. Months later, she announced that she had asked the department to make public many of those, while also saying that she deleted more than 32,000 other personal emails.

Mr Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly argued that Mrs Clinton may have deleted emails in order to prevent information damaging to her from becoming public.

“If I had to do it over again, I would, obviously, do it differently,” Mrs Clinton acknowledged about her use of private email. “But I’m not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake and I take responsibility for that.”

Mr Trump would not let it go.

“That was not a mistake. That was done purposely,” he interjected, saying it was “disgraceful” that Mrs Clinton’s staff, including the man who set up the Clintons’ home server, were allowed to take the constitutional privilege of declining to answer investigators’ questions about the incident. AGENCIES