Trump meets women who accused Bill Clinton
Donald Trump met women who accused former US president Bill Clinton of rape and other unwanted sexual advances just over an hour before he faced Hillary Clinton in a televised debate.
The Republican candidate refused to answer questions about his own lewd comments about women when he staged a press conference with Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey at a St Louis hotel.
Another woman, Kathy Shelton, also attended as she spoke about encountering Mrs Clinton in a criminal case when she was 12.
Ms Broaddrick, a former Arkansas nursing home administrator, first claimed 17 years ago that Mr Clinton raped her during a meeting in 1978. She sued him in 1999 and the case was dismissed in 2001. Mr Clinton denied her account.
Ms Jones, a former Arkansas state worker, alleged in 1991 that Mr Clinton propositioned and exposed himself to her and in 1994 she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him.
Mr Clinton's lawyers tried to have the lawsuit dismissed and in November 1998 he paid Ms Jones $850,000 to settle the case without apologising or acknowledging culpability.
Ms Willey, a former White House volunteer, accused Mr Clinton of forcing himself on her in 1993. He denied her charge and an independent prosecutor later concluded there was no evidence to doubt that denial.
Meanwhile, Ms Shelton was sexually assaulted at the age of 12 in 1975 in Arkansas. Mrs Clinton was asked by a judge overseeing the case to represent Ms Shelton's alleged attacker.
After the prosecution lost key evidence, Mrs Clinton's client entered a plea to a lesser charge. In an interview a decade later, Mrs Clinton expressed horror at the crime, but was recorded on tape laughing about procedural details of the case.
Mr Trump staged the pre-debate event following the controversy over a 2005 recording in which he describes grabbing women "by the p***y".
Mrs Clinton's spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri described the press conference as a "stunt".
"We're not surprised to see Donald Trump continue his destructive race to the bottom," she said.
