Watch CBS News

What Hillary Clinton said when asked to sum up Donald Trump in a word

How would Hillary Clinton describe Donald Trump in one word?

"Flamboyant," is one option she offered in a Telemundo interview Monday. "Aggressively insulting," was another (she didn't stick to the one-word rule throughout the entire exercise). "He is not well-versed in the realities he's talking about."

But the anchor, Maria Celeste Arraras, wasn't content with those offerings.

"Would you say he's obnoxious?" she asked.

Hillary Clinton: Donald Trump is “fueling a level of paranoia and prejudice” 02:08

"Well, that would be a word that might well fit," Clinton said, but then she reconsidered. Trump-as-candidate is not the same person he was before, Clinton seemed to suggest.

"He never was like that. I mean, he was always a big talker. I mean, he was on TV. He had his reality show. But, you know, I represented New York. I saw him from time to time at events around the city. I never heard him say anything like that. I don't understand why he is doing what he's doing," she said. (Clinton, as Trump has pointed out, attended his wedding.)

Arraras again pressed Clinton to settle on one word.

"I don't know. There's too many words that come to my mind," she said, prompting Arraras to throw some fuel on the fire.

"He said that you were shrill," she told the Democratic presidential candidate.

"Oh well. He just insults everybody. He just can't help himself," she said. "I don't respond to anything he says about me because I could care less."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.