Donald Trump uses debate rebuttal time to plug new Washington hotel

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

last updated 27 September 2016

During Monday's debate, Donald Trump defended his decision to not pay some contractors who worked for him on different projects.

Hillary Clinton told Trump she has met with dishwashers, painters, glass and marble installers, and other contractors who were "stiffed by you and your businesses." An architect that Clinton said designed the clubhouse for one of Trump's golf courses was in the audience at Hofstra University, and although the man built a "beautiful facility that was immediately put to use," Trump wouldn't pay him.

"Maybe he didn't do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work," Trump interjected. Clinton said the workers deserved "some kind of apology from someone who has taken their labor, taken the goods they produced, then refused to pay them," adding that she was "relieved" her late father never did business with Trump. Trump responded by saying he does pay contractors and his "obligation right now is to do well for myself, my family, my employees, for my companies, and that's what I do." Trump added that he has plenty of workers who are "unbelievably happy and love me," then used the remainder of his time to plug his new hotel near the White House. "If I don't get there one way," he vowed, "I'll get to Pennsylvania Avenue another."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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