Monday’s presidential debate featured plenty of fireworks between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but some of the nastiest rhetoric took place off stage in the press pool.
Before the debate even began, two reporters exchanged heated words during a scrum. The first reporter, identified as Al Jazeera English’s Kimberly Halkett, was moving forward with other reporters when she claims to be pushed by a second female reporter behind her.
When security tells both women to get back, Halkett turns to the second reporter and says, “Thanks a lot, b—-!” Not exactly the spirit of journalistic camaraderie you’d expect.
Maybe Halkett was simply the victim of a defective microphone. There was a lot of that going around on debate night.
During a post-debate interview in the spin room following the GOP nominee’s first presidential showdown with Clinton, Trump said, “They also had — they gave me a defective mic,” according to CBS News reporter Sopan Deb.
Trump has suggested for months, during the Republican primary and since, that the political machines on both sides have conspired to torpedo his candidacy, calling the system “rigged.”
Watch Halkett lash out at the woman behind her in the video below:
Scrum pleasantries. The show hasn’t even started but things are off to a great start #debates https://t.co/LwdbU7XTfG
— Dalton Bennett (@DDaltonBennett) September 26, 2016