All eyes will be on presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as they take the stage for a second televised debate Sunday night.
, being held at Washington University in Missouri, amid growing backlash after an 11-year-old audio recording of him making lewd comments about women was made public.
He has previously said he would not bring up at the debate Bill Clinton鈥檚 infidelities. However, with controversy swirling around him, that may now change.
In a brief video in which he apologized for his 2005 comments, Trump said that the former U.S. president and husband of his political opponent 鈥渉as actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.鈥�
Other issues that were touched upon in the first presidential debate could re-surface, such as Trump鈥檚 income tax history. Trump in turn, may focus in on Clinton鈥檚 use of private emails when she was secretary of state, an issue that has dogged the democratic nominee on the campaign trail.
Benjamin Chang, a former White House national security official, says while it鈥檚 important to address Trump鈥檚 comments, he hopes the controversy doesn鈥檛 overshadow other issues during the debate.
鈥淲e do need to address, in the context of the campaign and as a country, what these sorts of comments by a major party candidate represent and mean, both in the state of the election but also perhaps the state of our civil discourse,鈥� Chang said in an interview on 麻豆影视 Channel on Sunday.
鈥淭hat said, I do hope that other issues rise to the surface during the town hall-style debate.鈥�
In particular, Chang said he hopes current foreign affairs will be addressed, including Russia鈥檚 recent veto in the UN Security Council over a resolution demanding the Syrian government halt bombing campaigns in Aleppo.
Chang, who has worked with Clinton when she was U.S. secretary of state, is supporting Clinton in the election, and says he believes the Democratic nominee is best suited to deal with issues of U.S. national security.
Meanwhile, Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University, says while Trump may be eager to raise former President Bill Clinton鈥檚 martial indiscretions, he would be better served by sticking to more substantive issues like the economy and foreign policy.
鈥淚f he goes in the direction of Bill Clinton and his peccadillos, it will just reinforce people鈥檚 ideas about his own problems,鈥� he said.
Marketing strategist and former political spokesperson Dorie Clark expects Trump to go on the offensive with attacks on Clinton鈥檚 marriage; a strategy she says may not win him any favours with undecided voters, but could be successful in eroding support for his opponent.
The candidates will come face-to-face with non-committed voters Sunday night. Unlike the first debate, the town hall format allows undecided voters to pose questions to the candidates.
Clark says Clinton should be able to stay largely above the fray regarding Trump鈥檚 more recent controversy, with audience members and moderators able to openly probe the Republican nominee on his recorded 2005 comments.
鈥淗illary Clinton does not have to do the heavy lifting here,鈥� she said.
With files from The Associated Press
