Clinton and her campaign stopped just short of calling Trump a ‘racist’ at the debate

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — During their first presidential debate on Monday night, Democrat Hillary Clinton attacked her Republican rival, Donald Trump, for telling what she described as a “birther lie” that was “racist.” While she used the term “racist” to characterize Trump’s past comments, both Clinton and one of her top aides did not employ the word to describe Trump as a man.

Trump spent several years raising questions about the debunked “birther” conspiracy theories claiming President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. Earlier this month, Trump said he no longer has questions about Obama’s origins after ducking the subject in an interview, embroiling his campaign in new controversy. At the debate, Trump argued he did a “good job” handling the issue and credited himself with pushing Obama to release his birth certificate.

While Clinton and her campaign have attacked some of Trump’s comments and policy ideas as “bigoted,” they have not used the term to directly describe Trump.

After the Hofstra University debate, Yahoo News asked Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, whether the former secretary of state believes Trump is “a racist.” Podesta suggested that Clinton couldn’t possibly know what Trump believes.

“Look, I think that’s kind of, you know, a question of what’s in his heart,” Podesta said.

Podesta then pointed to several things to argue that Trump has “built” his campaign on “racism.” He cited the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Trump’s real estate company for allegedly discriminating against potential African-American tenants in 1973. He also pointed to statements Trump has made about a Mexican-American judge, Muslims and illegal immigration from Mexico.

“You have to look at what he’s done, starting in his earliest days, when he was sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination in housing rentals. And then moving on into this campaign, he’s certainly done things from attacking a judge born in Indiana, saying he couldn’t fairly judge a case, calling him ‘a Mexican,’ what he’s said about Muslims, including people in … this country, what he’s done to offend just about everybody,” Podesta said of Trump.

“Particularly Hispanic-Americans, what he’s said about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. You know? I think those actions are certainly bigoted and open up a vein of bigotry in this country that should be deplored,” he continued.

Podesta suggested that the Clinton campaign had “refrained” from labeling Trump “a racist.”

“You know, we’ve refrained from name-calling,” Podesta said. “But I think that … he has run a campaign built on division, bigotry and, yes, racism.”

Yahoo News then asked Podesta whether he personally believes Trump is a racist.

“I’m just going to stick with what I said, which is, look at his history, look at the way he’s run his campaign. … An arc of the campaign in particular has been one of division, of bigotry, and at times, outright racism,” Podesta said. “You make your own judgment of what’s in his heart.”

(Cover tile photos: Mike Segar/Reuters, Patrick Semansky/AP)