Donald Trump plans to "be nice" and stay "very respectful" of rival Hillary Clinton during next Monday's first presidential debate, but admitted that anything could happen.
"I'm going to be very respectful of her," the GOP nominee told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program about Monday's debate, which will be moderated by NBC's Lester Holt. "I think she deserves that and I'm going to be nice. If she's respectful of me, that will be nice."
He predicts the debate will be "something that I think people will respect as a debate but we'll see where it all goes. You never really know exactly how it's going to turn out, and that's why we have a lot of people watching, almost as many people as are watching your show right now."
Clinton's campaign, though has "already spent hundreds of millions of dollars attacking me, and I guess Madison Avenue, to go after my temperament," he continued, responding to a question posted on Twitter about how he'll react if Clinton attacks him in the debate. "I always felt that was my best asset in many ways. We'll stay cool and see what happens with her."
Meanwhile, Trump, who had issues with some primary debate moderators, most notably, Fox News' Megyn Kelly, said he believes Holt to be a "very good person, a very good man," and he doesn't believe early criticism being put on Holt is fair.
"A lot of pressure is being put on Lester Holt, and you know, it's Bobby Knight-type pressure with the refs," said Trump. "That's what they are doing with Lester Holt. That's very unfair. A lot of people are watching to see if he succumbs."
Trump, though, did take aim at Clinton on the program, even after his statements that he would be "nice" in the debate.
"She's terrible," said Trump. "She's had a terrible record. Everything she touches is bad. You look at what's going on with Libya, the surge, all of her decisions. You look at the Iran deal which is one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen, which she started and she totally backs, by the way, in its completed form . . .
"Everything she's touched, it's just a mess and she's spending a lot of money and so far it's not have much of an impact because I guess I'm winning in most of these states. We'll see what happens in the end. The special interests are giving her a fortune because they are giving her what she wants."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.