Hillary Clinton has released her first excerpt from her upcoming book, "What Happened" — featuring a rant about wishing she'd shouted "You creep!" at
Donald Trump during a debate!
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In the bombshell first look at her upcoming account on the campaign, Hillary starts by explaining that she wants "to pull back the curtain on an experience
that was exhilarating, joyful,
humbling,
infuriating and
just plain baffling!" That intro invokes the video during the 2016 election where Hillary was mocked for asking: "Why aren't I 50 points ahead?" But that's not the main moment she'd like to live again!
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"If the Russians could hack my subconscious," declares Hillary, "they'd find a long list" of moments she'd like to "go back and do over." That includes the Presidential Debate of Oct. 9, 2016, when Trump walked over to stand behind Hillary as she addressed the audience. "Donald Trump was looming behind me two days after the world
heard him brag about groping women," complains Hillary.
"This," she continues, "is not okay, I thought. Now we were on a small stage, and no matter where i walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled."
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"It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit Pause," writes Hillary — before going into a fantasy of how she could have responded: "Do you turn and look him in the eye and say, loudly and clearly, 'Back up, you creep! Get away from me! I know you love to intimidate women, but you can't intimidate me — so back up!"
In what seems to be a recurring theme in the book, Hillary then explains that her aloofness once again worked against her — saying: "I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men trying to throw me off." Still, she bemoans, yelling at Trump would have made for "better TV."
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"Maybe I have overlearned the lesson of staying calm, biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while determined to present a composed face to the world," Hillary adds. Meanwhile, veteran Hillary observers recalled her similar complaints during her first run for the U.S. Senate against New York Representative Rick Lazio.
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Hillary's campaign manager, Howard Wolfson, complained in 2000 that Lazio had acted "menacing" when he approached Hillary with a petition against "soft money" campaign spending and asked her to sign it.
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Shortly afterwards, Hillary also said that Lazio crossing the stage was a bid at intimidation — adding: “The thing that probably prepared me best in dealing with things like that was having two younger brothers!”