WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's campaign is seeking to smear Hillary Clinton as an anti-feminist who sought to "destroy" women that accused her husband of sexual misconduct in order to protect her career, a leaked internal memo has shown.
The strategy, which marks a new low in a presidential campaign that has already seen policy proposals take a back seat to personal attacks, comes after the Democratic presidential nominee described her rival as a man who "has called women pigs, slobs and dogs".
"Mr Trump has never treated women the way Hillary Clinton and her husband did when they actively worked to destroy Bill Clinton's accusers," read one of the talking points on the memo shown to CNN.
The family of the Republican nominee have repeatedly praised Mr Trump for taking the "high ground" by not mentioning Mr Clinton's numerous marital scandals during this week's presidential debate.
But in the hours and days after the debate - widely acknowledged as Mr Trump's weakest public performance since launching his political career - the presidential nominee's campaign launched a full throated offensive.
In 2014 Ms Lewinsky criticised Mrs Clinton for having a "blame the woman" reaction to her affair with Bill Clinton. The campaign memo called on supporters to revive this claim, and other old and unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct by Bill Clinton against Paula Jones and other women with whom he had affairs.
"Hillary Clinton bullied and smeared women like Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky," it read.
In an interview with Fox and Friends, the conservative television show, David Bossie, Mr Trump's deputy campaign manager, said: "If you look at [Hillary Clinton] being an enabler, really, in the '90s and really attacking these women, it goes against everything that she now tries to spout as a candidate for president."
Mr Trump first sought to make Mr Clinton's affairs a campaign issue earlier this year when he called Mrs Clinton an "enabler". At that time the Clinton campaign stated Mr Trump was running a "campaign from the gutter".
She has yet to comment on the latest attacks. But asked about Mr Trump's claim of restraint over Mrs Clinton's personal matters at the debate, the Democratic nominee responded: "As I say, he can run his campaign however he chooses, and I will continue to talk about what I want to do for the American people".
