Clinton accuses Trump of being Putin's 'puppet' in final debate
Washington
DEMOCRAT Hillary Clinton accused Republican presidential rival Donald Trump on Wednesday of being a "puppet" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has been accused by US intelligence officials of meddling in the US election.
Mr Putin has been repeatedly thrust into the campaign for the Nov 8 US election. Mr Trump has praised him as a stronger leader than US President Barack Obama, drawing criticism from Mrs Clinton and some Republicans that he is too cozy with the Russian president.
Mr Trump has also refused to concede that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails.
During Wednesday's final presidential debate, Mr Trump said he did not know Mr Putin but would likely get along better with the Russian leader than Mrs Clinton, a former US secretary of state.
"He said nice things about me," Mr Trump said. "He has no respect for her, he has no respect for our president. And I'll tell you what, we're in very serious trouble."
Mrs Clinton responded: "Well, that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States."
"No, you're the puppet," Mr Trump retorted, adding that Mrs Clinton disliked Mr Putin because he "has outsmarted her at every step of the way".
Earlier this week, Mr Trump suggested that, if elected, his first meeting with a foreign leader would be with Mr Putin.
US-Russian relations have deteriorated in recent years over Moscow's intervention in the Syrian conflict, its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and concerns about cyber attacks.
National intelligence director James Clapper, who oversees 17 US intelligence agencies, has suggested that recent computer hacks targeting the Democratic Party were perpetrated by Russians, and predicted that cyber attacks would be a pressing challenge for the next president.
Mr Putin said on Sunday that Russia did not seek confrontation with the United States and was not trying to influence the US election.
Mr Trump also stirred social media ire on Wednesday after he said: "We have some bad hombres here" and referred to Mrs Clinton as "such a nasty woman". The remarks during the debate came as Mr Trump struggles to attract support from Latinos and women ahead of Polling Day.
During the face-off, Mr Trump repeated his call for tougher security at the Mexican border, saying: "We have to keep the drugs out of our country." Adding that he would also go after major drug dealers in the United States, he said: "We have some bad hombres here and we're going to get them out."
Social media users seized on the remark. "This #BadHombres is the first of his family to graduate from college, did Americorps & taught in public schools," tweeted José N Miranda. "Sometimes I forget this is a presidential debate and not an SNL (Saturday Night Live) skit #badhombres," wrote Twitter user Ian Mayberry.
Mr Trump has aroused criticism for inflammatory comments about Mexican illegal immigrants during his presidential bid. REUTERS
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