Hillary Clinton kicked off the conversation on economic policy during the first presidential debate on Monday with a knock on how Donald Trump started his career with family money, which the GOP nominee insisted was just a “small” loan.
“Donald was very fortunate in his life and that’s all to his benefit,” Clinton said. “He started his business with $14 million borrowed from his father and he really believes that the more you help wealthy people, the better off we’ll be and everything will work out from there. I don’t buy that. I have a different experience. My father was a small businessman. He worked really hard.”
Trump was then asked about his pledge to bring jobs back from overseas, but doubled back to Clinton’s comment about the loan from his father.
“Before we start on that, my father gave me a small loan in 1975 and I built it with millions and millions of dollars with greater assets,” he said of his real estate empire. “I say that because that’s what our country needs. Our country is in deep trouble.”
Trump has trumpeted his record in business as proof that he could boost America’s economy.