Will Clinton use final debate to counter Trump's 'rigged' claims?

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Hillary Clinton faces off against perhaps the most unpredictable version of Donald Trump for the third and final debate Wednesday night in Las Vegas, amid her opponent’s increasingly loud cries of an election that is “rigged” against him as he falls in the polls.

Much has changed in the 10 days since the two last debated each other. Last week, Trump tweeted that he was glad the “shackles” had finally been taken off him, and then repeatedly told his supporters that “large scale voter fraud” and other alleged — but unspecified — malfeasance means the U.S. election is “rigged” against him. Trump also has pushed back on new allegations from several women that he groped them in the past, and suggested at a rally that one of the women was not attractive enough to assault. He also implied that Clinton had taken drugs before the last debate. Meanwhile, more hacked emails from Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta’s account have been posted by WikiLeaks.

Clinton’s surrogates say they expect her to attack Trump over his complaints of a rigged election, possibly following the lead of President Barack Obama, who characterized them as the whining of a sore loser in comments on Tuesday.

“She should absolutely rip him,” said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who supports Clinton. But Rendell cautioned that Clinton should wait for “one of the moderators or Trump himself” to bring up the rigging before she goes into it, so that she doesn’t take away time from answering questions put to her. “She shouldn’t bring it up,” Rendell said.

Clinton’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri did not answer reporters’ questions about whether Clinton would directly address Trump’s vote-rigging claims on the debate stage. She did, however, characterize Trump’s claims as the behavior of a loser, a potential preview of Clinton’s approach Wednesday.

“There are two reasons why Donald Trump is talking about rigged elections,” Palmieri said. “One is he’s trying to distract from the bad story line of his verbal and physical assaults on women. And because he’s losing and he wants to blame somebody else — and that’s what losers do.”

“He knows he is losing and is trying to blame that on the system,” Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters Monday. “This is what losers do.”

Calling Trump a “loser” may be a calculated way to get under the real estate mogul’s skin — he often uses the insult toward others on Twitter. But it remains to be seen whether Clinton herself will trot it out.

Slideshow: Las Vegas prepares for the final presidential debate >>>

The former secretary of state has been practicing for days, taking a lighter campaign schedule last week to run through mock debates with her longtime aide Philippe Reines, who plays Trump. The final debate could be one of the nastiest in U.S. history, as the usual outwardly cordial relationship between candidates has entirely broken down. Even the family members of the candidates will not shake hands, as is customary, the New York Times reported.

It’s unclear whether Trump will again bring up alleged abuses of former President Bill Clinton in the debate. In St. Louis, Trump brought three women who accused the former president of sexually assaulting them in the past for an impromptu press conference before the debate began. When Trump was pressed about newly released comments he made 10 years ago about wanting to grope women, he replied, “If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse.” This time, if his treatment of women is brought up again, it will be less likely that he can deflect to the former president. Several women have come forward since that debate and said Trump sexually assaulted them.

I don’t see how he can go there,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., a Clinton surrogate. “The same thing he accused Hillary of doing, standing by her husband, well, his wife is doing the same thing to him.”

Rendell and Meeks both mentioned Trump’s Sunday tweet that complained about a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that made fun of his last debate performance. Clinton could use Trump’s complaint against the late-night comedy show to paint him as easily baited and unpresidential.

“Here’s a guy who’s so thin-skinned that he’s saying that ‘Saturday Night Live’ should be taken off the air,” Meeks said.

It’s unclear how Trump will attack Clinton, but her team says she is ready for questions raised by the hacked Podesta emails. “I assume WikiLeaks will come up,” Palmieri told reporters. “I think the correct context and what the debate should focus on is the extraordinary and unprecedented and very disturbing role that Russia is playing to try to influence our elections.”

But Rendell said Clinton should thoroughly answer any question raised about the emails before mentioning Russia’s influence in releasing them. At the last debate, Clinton was asked about her comment in a paid speech that politicians should have both a “public and private position” on issues. She said the comment was inspired by a movie about Abraham Lincoln, which Trump quickly pounced on. Rendell said that wasn’t a “great answer,” and he hoped Clinton would have a better response this time.

“I know the campaign is going to want to pivot to the fact that Russia is responsible for this, and she can say that,” said Rendall. “But only after she answers the questions.”