Washington Free Beacon reporter Elizabeth Harrington discussed Donald Trump bringing up Bill Clinton's sordid past to counter Hillary Clinton's sexism charges Thursday on Fox News, calling it a smart and fair attack.
"I think this attack line is smart and it's pretty fair in this instance," Harrington said. "Hillary's campaign really sees Bill as an asset. He's more likable than Hillary. They want him out on the campaign trail ... But if Trump keeps hitting him on this line, bringing up his past and branding him as sort of a sexual predator, it's really going to hurt Hillary, because if Trump's talking about it, the media's talking about it, and that can't be good for Hillary to have to talk about this stuff from the past."
Harrington told Fox News host Abby Huntsman that Hillary Clinton couldn't ignore Trump's attacks forever after she was the one to bring up sexism on the campaign trail.
Asked who benefited more in the Trump-Clinton feud with this topic in the limelight, Harrington replied that Clinton's fierce defenses of her husband in the wake of numerous affairs and even charges of sexual assault could undermine her attempt to be a candidate who champions women's rights.
"I think this could backfire ... It's her past as well," Harrington said. "It's not just Bill's. She went after all Bill's accusers ... She has this history of really going after women if they're against her political agenda, so I think she'll have to address that as well."
Harrington also mentioned an item reported by the Free Beacon in 2014 about Clinton, while she was First Lady, privately dismissing a woman as "whiny" who accused a congressman of sexual harassment, because she needed that congressman on health care reform.