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The Washington Post

Gennifer Flowers, who revealed a sexual relationship with Bill Clinton in the 1990s, is saying she will attend Monday’s debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as Trump’s guest.
Flowers’s assistant confirmed the decision to BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski Saturday afternoon, and Flowers herself told the New York Times in a text message, “Yes, I will be there.”


The decision was the latest play in a bizarre bit of gamesmanship between the Clinton and Trump campaigns over the debate. Clinton’s camp confirmed last week that they would invite billionaire Mark Cuban, a Trump antagonist, to the debate.
“Just got a front row seat to watch @HillaryClinton overwhelm @realDonaldTrump at the ‘Humbling at Hofstra’ on Monday. It Is On!” Cuban tweeted.

Just got a front row seat to watch @HillaryClinton overwhelm @realDonaldTrump at the "Humbling at Hofstra" on Monday. It Is On !
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 23, 2016

The two billionaires have feuded regularly in recent years. At a July campaign stop for Clinton, Cuban called Trump “bats--- crazy.”
On Saturday, he taunted Trump on Twitter: “Donald. Remember when you told me on the phone we were ‘Bobbsie Twins’ and I laughed?”
As America chooses its next leader, the world is watching more closely than ever
And Trump tweeted that he might invite Flowers - first in a tweet that misspelled her name as “Jennifer,” which was deleted within minutes, quickly followed by a repeat. Both tweets also mentioned Cuban’s ‘Apprentice’-like TV show, which was cancelled in 2004: “If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!”

Despite the confirmation from Flowers, the Trump campaign said on Sunday that Flowers would not be not actually be at the debate. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN that the Trump campaign had not formally invited Flowers.
Stakes are as high as they get since there are just six weeks until the November 8 election. Polls show a close race, with Clinton, 68, enjoying an edge.
What do 75 ex-diplomats have in common with 27 Hollywood celebrities?
As many as 90 million Americans, some estimate, will be glued to their television to catch the showdown.
Many analysts say debates usually don’t win a candidate the election but can well lose it for them. A single sentence, or the slightest slip, can do serious damage.

Plenty of American voters will have made a decision by now, to be sure. Most have.
But nine per cent by some estimates still don’t know who to vote for, after a long campaign in which bitter attacks have often replaced substance.
For the first time ever, OAS international election experts to monitor Trump-Clinton battle for president
Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri responded: “Hillary Clinton plans on using the debate to discuss the issues that make a difference in people’s lives. It’s not surprising that Donald Trump has chosen a different path.”
It also remains to be seen whether the Commission on Presidential Debates, which organises the debates, would allow either Cuban or Flowers to sit in the front row. Commission co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf said, before the news about Flowers, that attempts to distract the candidates with guests will be discouraged.

“We are going to frown upon - I will tell you this right now - whether or not a Republican or Democrat or anyone else attempts by use of tickets in placing people in a front row or not to try to impact the debate. It is wrong,” Fahrenkopf said.
“We would frown upon Mr Cuban being in the front row if his purpose is to somehow disrupt the debate; likewise, if Mr Trump was going to put someone in the front row to try and impact things.”
‘A totally unhinged person’: Trump, in series of scathing personal attacks, questions Clinton's mental health
Flowers said during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign that the two of them had engaged in an affair over a dozen years. The allegation, which Clinton denied at the time, threatened to ruin his campaign.
In 1998, Bill Clinton acknowledged under oath having a sexual encounter with Flowers, though he disputed details of her account.

On Saturday, the New York Times endorsed Clinton, who ahead of the debates has been cloistered with aides and her papers at home in Chappaqua, north of New York, even practising with relatives playing Trump.
She has been focusing on his psychological profile, with a goal to get Trump to crack, to show that he can’t control himself and lacks the even-handed temperament a president needs.
When snack attack gaffes take a bite out of presidential campaigns
If he reacts by attacking, Trump also risks losing women’s votes; he already has a harder time with women voters, and they make up 53 per cent of those who turn out. And any slip is sure to be a TV news sound bite.
Clinton’s campaign released a long list of lies it attributes to Donald Trump ahead of the debate.
Trump in turn says preparations are “going very well,” trying to at least appear relaxed. Friday he won the endorsement of former conservative rival Senator Ted Cruz.
Trump seems unwilling to train with a Hillary stand-in. But he has watched videos of his opponent in previous debates.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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US election: Trump v Clinton

Let the mind games begin: Trump invites Bill Clinton’s ex-lover to first presidential debate with Hillary

Large images of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump are seen on a CNN vehicle, behind a security fence at Hofstra University, in Hempsted, New York. The university is the site of the first Presidential debate. Photo: AFP

Gennifer Flowers (R) blows a kiss to talk show host Larry King (L) during her live interview on CNN's Larry King Live show in Hollywood, CA 23 January. According to reports leaked to the press, US President Bill Clinton admitted during a deposition in the Paula Jones investigation to having an affair with Flowers while he was governor of Arkansas. AFP PHOTO Rene MACURA

ROANOKE, VA - SEPTEMBER 24: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump acknowledges supporters' cheers during a campaign event at the Berglund Center on September 24, 2016 in Roanoke, Virginia. Trump spoke about lowering taxes and encouraging job growth during his last speech ahead of the first presidential debate with Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on September 26. Sara D. Davis/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

This 1992 file photo shows then Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton(L) and his wife Hillary(R) embracing. Clinton has been accused of having an affair with a former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky and during a depostion 17 January in the Paula Jones sexual harrassment suit, President Clinton admitted to having a relationship with Gennifer Flowers when he was governor. AFP PHOTO FILES/ Mike NELSON

An empty media filing center waits on September 24, 2014, for the reporters at Hofstra University, in Hempsted, New York. The university is the site of the first Presidential debate on September 26, between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS

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Who is going to win? Who is going to choke? The pressure is intense for Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton - phenomenally different candidates - who clash in their first debate on Monday
