"His whole purpose and mission in this campaign was to try and throw her off her game and he couldn’t do it," Robby Mook said. | Getty Mook: Trump's pre-debate presser with Bill Clinton's accusers was a failed 'stunt'

Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook said Donald Trump’s pre-debate photo-op with five alleged victims of Bill and Hillary Clinton was a “failed stunt," which was indicative of the Republican nominee’s performance in the second presidential debate.

“This was a stunt. And this was a painful moment in their marriage, and it was litigated very heavily 20 years ago,” Mook told reporters aboard the campaign’s plane after the debate. “She came in with a real sense of purpose to inform the voters in the room, the voters and in the country, about what her plans were. This was an attempt by Donald Trump to throw her off, try to distract. the problem that he has, and the reason that he lost this debate, is he has no command of the issues.”


Responding to Trump’s promise that the former secretary of state would go to jail if he wins the White House, Mook said that the Republican nominee was a dictator-in-training.

“He was talking like he would become some dictator of a banana republic,” he said.

Mook said that the only way for Trump to change the direction of the race with less than 30 days left was to rattle Clinton — but any such attempts failed.

"His whole purpose and mission in this campaign was to try and throw her off her game and he couldn’t do it," he said.

Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director, told reporters in St. Louis said that before the debate, Clinton knew Trump was “likely to pull some kind of stunt.” Clinton also was aware of the Facebook live feed with the four women. “She knew all that was there.”

“She understood that was meant to intimidate her," Palmieri said. "And he did that for one reason — to try to unnerve her and intimidate her when she walked on the stage. And you know with Hillary Clinton that’s going to be a wasted effort.”

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.

