Hillary Clinton calls Trump ‘creep’ in new book

HILLARY Clinton may have looked calm during her presidential debate against Donald Trump, but there was something going on that viewers couldn’t see.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump participate in a televised debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, on October 9, 2016. Picture: AFP/Rich Wilking

HILLARY Clinton has revealed that she wanted to say “back up, you creep” to Donald Trump as he loomed behind her during the second presidential debate last year.

In an excerpt from her upcoming book on the 2016 campaign, What Happened, the defeated Democratic candidate describes how she felt “incredibly uncomfortable” when Mr Trump stood behind her during the televised debate in Missouri.

“This is not OK, I thought,” she writes in the excerpt released to 24-hour news channel MSNBC.

“It was the second presidential debate and Donald Trump was looming behind me.

Hillary Clinton says she felt ‘uncomfortable’ when Donald Trump stood behind her during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, in October 2016. Picture: AFP/Rick Wilking

“Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women.

“Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked he followed closely, staring at me, making faces.

“It was incredibly uncomfortable.

Donald Trump stares down Hillary Clinton during the televised debate. Picture: AFP/Paul J Richards

“He was literally breathing down my neck.

“My skin crawled.”

The televised debate came two days after a 2005 tape was published that caught Mr Trump bragging about how “you can do anything” to women “when you’re a star”.

“Grab ’em by the p***y. You can do anything,” he said on the tape.

Mrs Clinton also gives a rare insight into her thought process as a presidential candidate — and a woman.

We now know what was going on in Hillary Clinton’s head that night. Picture: Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP

“It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, ‘Well, what would you do?’” she writes.

“Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly: ‘Back up, you creep. Get away from me. I know that you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up’?

Hillary Clinton discusses her election failure in her upcoming book, What Happened. Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP

“I chose option A, kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of difficult men trying to throw me off.

“I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard.

“I wonder, though, whether I should have chosen option B.

“It certainly would have been better TV.

“Maybe I have over-learned 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.”

Elsewhere in the book, Mrs Clinton writes that she didn’t intend to write a comprehensive account of the 2016 race; instead she wanted to tell her side of the story.

“I want to pull back the curtain on an experience that was exhilarating, joyful, humbling, infuriating and just plain baffling,” she writes.

“Writing this wasn’t easy. Every day that I was a candidate for president, I knew that millions of people were counting on me and I couldn’t bear the idea of letting them down. But I did.

“I couldn’t get the job done and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.

“In this book, I write about moments from the campaign that I wish I could go back and do over.

“If the Russians could hack my subconscious, they would find a long list.”

What Happened is due to be released on September 12.