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US election: Trump team tries to ease global concern

By BBC
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
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Donald Trump's campaign team has sought to allay negative views expressed overseas towards its candidate, a day before the US goes to the polls.

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told the BBC such antipathy "doesn't reflect why Donald Trump is running and who he would be on the global stage".

She also attacked Hillary Clinton's "unremarkable to chequered" record as secretary of state.

Both candidates are undertaking a blitz of campaigning in key states on Monday.

The latest opinion poll, on Fox News on Monday, gave Mrs Clinton a four-point lead, double that of Friday.

Mr Trump has faced a barrage of criticism from some world figures during campaigning. French President Francois Hollande said the businessman made people "want to retch". The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described him as a danger internationally.

Speaking to the BBC's Katty Kay, Ms Conway said negative attitudes overseas do "bother me" but defended Mr Trump's "America First" stance.

Mr Trump "does say America First and he means it", she said, spelling out the reasons - stopping the loss of American jobs overseas, making sure all partners, including Nato, pay their fair share and renegotiating trade deals that are bad for the US.

Ms Conway also responded to a jibe from President Barack Obama that Mr Trump could not be trusted with US nuclear codes.

The president, during a rally in Florida on Sunday, said that if Mr Trump could not be trusted with a Twitter account, he should not be in charge of US nuclear weapons.

He was referring to a New York Times report that Mr Trump's team had taken control of his Twitter account from him.

But Ms Conway denied the Times report and said Mr Trump could be trusted with the nuclear weapons.

She said that Mrs Clinton had herself "not proved to be qualified with nuclear codes" citing her use of a private email server for classified information when she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration.

Ms Conway condemned Mrs Clinton for allegedly allowing her maid to print off classified documents.

On Sunday, the FBI's director said a fresh inquiry into the Democratic candidate's communications had found nothing to change the bureau's conclusion this summer that she should not face criminal charges.