Duterte hits back at Clinton daughter

What did Chelsea Clinton have to say when her father was cavorting with a White House intern?

President Duterte raised this question on Wednesday as he hit back at the daughter of former US President Bill Clinton for criticizing his recent comment that he would take up the cudgels for soldiers who would commit rape during martial law.

On her Twitter account, the younger Clinton a few days ago linked to a story on Mr. Duterte’s rape comment and wrote “Not funny. Ever.”

Replying to another tweet, she said Mr. Duterte was a “murderous thug with no regard for human rights.”

“It’s important to keep pointing that out and that rape is never a joke,” she added.

Lewinsky case

The remarks of the former US first daughter did not sit well with Mr. Duterte, who said she should be careful with what she’d say because she was living in a glass house.

“I will tell her, ‘when your father, the President of the United States, was screwing Lewinsky and the girls there in the White House, how did you feel? Did you slam your father?’” Mr. Duterte said at the 119th anniversary of the Philippine Navy in Davao City.

“I repeat, when President Clinton was fucking Lewinsky, what was your statement or your reaction?” he added.

Mr. Duterte was referring to former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, who figured in an inappropriate relationship with the then US President in 1995 and 1996. The sex scandal led to Clinton’s impeachment.

Sarcasm

Mr. Duterte also noted that the younger Clinton “slammed” his rape joke, but he was not joking, he said, and was actually being “sarcastic” when he made the rape statement.

People should connect what he says and understand his rhetoric, the President said. He was just telling the soldiers that he would have to answer for their actions, he said.

Mr. Duterte pointed out that American soldiers who came to the Philippines raped Filipinos and one even killed a transgender. And what they do is pay off the complainants and give them visas to live in the United States, he said.

The US soldiers do the same in other countries where the United States have military bases, Mr. Duterte added.