Trump could be a puppet for the Kremlin: Clinton campaign

Russia is at the "core" of Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican nominee himself could be a "puppet" for the Kremlin, the rival Clinton Campaign alleged today.
"The hand of the Kremlin has been at work in this campaign for some time. It's clear that they are supporting Donald Trump," the Clinton Campaign Manager, Robby Mook told ABC News during a Sunday talk show.
"But we now need Donald Trump to explain to us the extent to which the hand of the Kremlin is at the core of his own campaign. There's a web of financial interests that have not been disclosed. And there are real questions being raised about whether Donald Trump himself is just a puppet for the Kremlin in this race?" he alleged.

"You're saying he's a puppet for the Kremlin?" Mook was asked.
"Well, real questions are being raised about that. There's a web of financial ties to the Russians that he refuses to disclose. We've seen over the last few week, him parroted Vladimir Putin in his own remarks. We saw the Republican Party platform changed," he alleged.
"She saw Donald Trump talk about leaving NATO and leaving our Eastern European allies vulnerable to a Russian attack. The gentleman he brought with him to his security briefing just last week is someone who's on the payroll of the Russia Times, which is a basically a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. He was sitting two seats away from Vladimir Putin at heir 10th Anniversary gala," he said.

"There are a lot of questions here. We need Donald Trump to disclose all of his financial ties and whether his advisers are having meetings with the Kremlin," Mook alleged.

Responding to a question on Clinton Foundation's decision not to take foreign money as donation if Hillary Clinton is elected as the president she said it is unprecedented.
"The steps that are being taken if she should become president are unprecedented. We're happy that that planning is taking place. But I think when we talk about transparency, when we talk about disclosure, Donald Trump needs to release his taxes. He needs to explain his financial ties," he said.

"Just yesterday, we read in The New York Times, that his businesses owe millions of dollars to the Bank of China. Donald Trump talks all the time about a trade war with China. How can he really do that when millions of dollars of his own bottom line could be affected directly by the Chinese government?" he asked.
Mook, according to the Clinton Foundation, is saying that they don't want to become a distraction, that they want to go as far as they possibly can to make sure there's no possible conflict of interests.
"But again I just want to be fair here, Donald Trump is refusing to disclose deep financial ties that potentially reach into the Kremlin, which could influence his foreign policy decisions, but also where countries like China have leverage over him and could potentially distort his decision making there," he said.

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Trump said despite the "heated" back and forth between them during the three debates and the election campaign, "we have proved that we can actually be civil to each other".
"Just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said 'pardon me'," he said, drawing the most laughs from the audience, even from Clinton.
"And I very politely replied 'Let me talk to you about that after I get into office'. Just kidding," he said.
Taking a swipe at the way Trump talks about women, Clinton said people look at the Statute of Liberty and see a "proud symbol of our history as a nation of immigrants, a beacon of hope for people around the world".

"Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, may be a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair," she said, a jab at Trump's way of using numbers to describe a woman's size.
"Come to think of it, you know what would be a good number for a woman? 45," Clinton said, referring to the number of the next US president.
All eyes were on the two presidential candidates as they arrived for the dinner. Clinton and Trump did not shake hands at the beginning of the dinner and only did so very briefly at the end of the event. The two had not shook hands at the third presidential debateas well.

Clinton began her remarks with a self-deprecating joke, saying the event was so special that she took a break from her "rigorous nap schedule to be here". She said it was a "treat" for those present in the room too to listen to her because she "usually charges a lot for speeches like this".
With Trump calling for Clinton to take a drug test before the final debate, Clinton said she was "flattered" that Trump felt she had used some sort of performance enhancer.
"Actually I did," she said, "it's called preparation."
She joked about her infamous "basket of deplorables" comment that she had made to describe Trump's supporters.

"There are a lot of friendly faces in the room, and I would put you all in a basket of adorables," she said.
On Trump's criticism that Cinton does not have the stamina to be president, she said she had to listen to him for three full debates "and he says I dont have any stamina".
"That is four and half hours, I have now stood next to Trump longer than any of his campaign managers," she said.
Clinton said if Trump does not agree with anything she is saying, heshould feel free to stand up and shout "wrong while I'm talking" and added that if Trump is not happy with the way the event turns out "it must be rigged".

Trump said he has known her for a long time "and this is the first time ever that Hillary is sitting down and speaking to major cooperate leaders and not getting paid for it".
He was heckled again when he said, "I wasn't really sure if Hillary was going to be here tonight because, I guess, you didn't send her invitation by email. Or maybe you did, and she just found out about it through the wonder of WikiLeaks."
"We've learned so much from WikiLeaks. For example, Hillary believes that it is vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private," Trump said as he was booed by the crowd.

Being heckled at a charity dinner attended by some of the most elite names in US politics, media and business was seen as unprecedented.