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​Hillary Clinton hits Donald Trump on housing crisis comments

Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump on Monday, telling union workers in Detroit that he could, "bankrupt America like he's bankrupted his companies."
Clinton on Trump: Last thing we need is a bully in the pulpit 05:10

This has been updated with Donald Trump's response.

COMMERCE, California Hillary Clinton blasted Donald Trump on Tuesday for cheering the housing market crash as an opportunity to get rich.

"He actually said he was hoping for the crash that caused hard working families in California and across America to lose their homes," Clinton said, speaking at a rally with union members at a training facility in Commerce, in Los Angeles County, "all because he thought he could take advantage of it to make some money for himself."

Clinton was capitalizing on comments that the Republican frontrunner made in 2006 and 2007 about the possibility of the housing market's collapse, which have surfaced in recent days.

"Now he says he wants to roll back the financial regulations that we have imposed on Wall Street to let them run wild again," she said. "I'll tell you what -- you and I together -- we're not going to let him."

Trump acknowledged in a statement that he's "made a lot of money in down markets. In some cases as much as I've made when markets are good," but he defended himself against Clinton's attacks by saying that the ability to profit from a down market is a good thing.

"Frankly, this is the kind of thinking our country needs, understanding how to get a good result out of a very bad and sad situation," he wrote. "Politicians have no idea how to do this - they don't have a clue."

Earlier Tuesday, Clinton's campaign released a new web video highlighting Trump's past comments, as part of a coordinated effort to discredit his commitment to working families.

Clinton rips Trump while fending off Sanders in Calif. 02:33

"In 2006, Donald Trump was hoping for a real estate crash," said the voiceover in the video. The video then uses clip of Trump from that year, when he said in a Trump University audiobook that "if there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you can make a lot of money."

Across more than half a dozen battleground states, including Ohio and Florida, Clinton surrogates fanned out to call attention to what Trump said.

"Not sure how you can make America great again by rooting for it to fail, so you can make a quick buck," said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn on a call with reporters, invoking Trump's slogan.

The Democratic National Committee and state parties followed Clinton's lead, and piled on.

"Donald Trump's lack of concern for the economic well-being of hard-working families shows that he doesn't have the judgement and temperament to occupy the Oval Office," said DNC communications director Luis Miranda in a statement.

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