The former Miss Universe at the center of a bitter exchange in Monday's presidential debate was accused of aiding a would-be murderer and threatening to kill a judge, it has emerged.

The Brooklyn Brain Trust that runs Hillary Clinton’s campaign didn’t do its vetting properly. David Martosko of the UK Daily Mail :

Alicia Machado was named by Hillary Clinton as having been shamed for her weight in 1996 by Donald Trump, when she was Miss Universe and he bought the beauty contest, by being called 'Miss Piggy' when she gained weight. (snip) …two Associated Press reports from 1998 have revealed the Machado was accused of aiding attempted murder and threats to kill in Venezuela. DailyMail.com has asked the Clinton campaign whether they knew about the accusations, which do not appear to have ended in conviction, before the candidate spoke about her at the debate.

She also made a number of porno films, as Alex Pfeiffer of the Daily Caller reports:

Former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado, who has been campaigning against Republican nominee Donald Trump for the Hillary Clinton campaign, has appeared in pornographic videos. Snippets of an adult film starring Machado are available on multiple free porn websites. Machado also appeared topless in Mexican Playboy in 2006 and 2012.

It was too good to check, as the old newsie joke goes, when a Hispanic former beauty queen came forward with heartbreaking tales of abuse at the hands of mean old sexist Donald Trump. A guy who makes fun of Hispanic women and overweight women is making fun of a sizable voting bloc.

But the context of Trump’s comments matter. She was named Miss Universe, signed a contract to perform certain duties, and promptly gained so much weight as to be unable to perform the visual functions of a beauty queen. Yes, that is lookism. That is what beauty pageants are. People like to look at beautiful things. Machado did not behave in a responsible fashion.