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Trump: 'We Have A Bunch Of Babies Running Our Country'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are back on the campaign trail Friday after the candidates traded sharp barbs and brutal takedowns Thursday at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in Manhattan.

CBS2's Brian Conybeare reports both campaigns are focused on battleground states like North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania that will likely decide who wins next month.

Trump used the latest batch of stolen emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

"More pay for play," said Trump.

WikiLeaks revealed internal emails from the Clinton campaign show division over the Clinton Global Initiative hosting a controversial meeting in Morocco, including discussions of a $12 million pledge from Moroccan King Mohammed VI to host the event, but only if Clinton attended.

Clinton confidant Human Abedin wrote in January 2015 that "if HRC was not part of it, meeting was a non-starter." Abedin also warned, "She created this mess and she knows it."

Clinton eventually canceled her appearance.

Trump, who has accused Clinton of making money from foreign governments, took a swipe at President Barack Obama's support for his opponent.

"We have a bunch of babies running our country, folks -- a bunch of losers, babies. We have a president who all he wants to do is campaign. All his wife wants to do is campaign," said Trump.

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign released a new political ad featuring Khizr Khan, the Muslim American who lost his soldier son in Iraq and has hounded Trump for his vow to stop Muslim immigration.

"I want to ask Mr. Trump: would my son have a place in your America?" Khan said in the ad.

Former President Bill Clinton was also stumping for his wife in Florida and criticizing Trump's plan to seal the nation's southern border.

"You can't build a wall around the world or yourselves or your family or your community in the age of social media," the former president said. "You got to do this together."

Amid Trump's talk of a potentially "rigged" election, three states -- Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana -- have turned down requests from Russian government officials to be poll watchers on Nov. 8.

The State Department dismissed the request as "nothing more than a PR stunt by the Russians, who have been accused of hacking Clinton emails.

The Al Smith annual dinner is often the last time the two presidential nominees share a stage before Election Day and is traditionally a time when campaign hostilities are set aside. Not this year.

COMPLETE CAMPAIGN 2016 COVERAGE

The night after their final debate, Trump, who had drawn big laughs earlier in the speech, appeared to lose the room as he repeatedly dug in with caustic swipes at Clinton, drawing rare boos at the charity event meant to raise money for impoverished children throughout New York.

He appeared to straddle the line when he talked about how "listening to Hillary rattle on and rattle on'' has made him better appreciate his longtime nemesis Rosie O'Donnell. But he then seemed to cross it when he referred to her as "corrupt'' during a lengthy riff on the FBI's investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

"Hillary is so corrupt she got kicked off the Watergate Commission. How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission? Pretty corrupt,'' he said to loud boos and at least one call demanding he get off the stage.

He then almost appeared to segue into the standard attack lines of his rally speeches, setting aside jokes to bring up material contained in hacked Clinton campaign emails.

"Hillary believes that it's vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private,'' he said to growing jeers. "Here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.''

Clinton also veered into personal digs, making one joke in which she said the Statue of Liberty, for most Americans, represents a symbol of hope for immigrants.

"Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a '4,''' Clinton joked. "Maybe a '5' if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.''

Trump and Clinton sat one seat apart for the evening, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan acting as the only buffer. And when they entered and took their seats, they did not greet each other or make eye contact, though they did shake hands at the conclusion of the roast.

Dolan later called his seat "the iciest place on the planet.''

Most eyes were on Trump, who infamously glowered through President Barack Obama's jokes at his expense during the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner and is not known for being self-deprecating.

Some of his jokes landed well, drawing laughs from both the crowd and Clinton. His biggest laughs came as he talked about Michelle Obama getting rave reviews for a recent speech.

"They think she's absolutely great. My wife Melania gives the exact same speech, and people get on her case,'' he said to whoops and laughs.

And some of his attack lines flashed a sense of humor that has been mostly absent from the grueling campaign. Clinton was the first one to laugh when Trump joked that she had bumped into him earlier in the night "and she very simply said 'Pardon me''' -- an unsubtle reference to the Republican nominee's frequent declarations that his opponent should go to jail.

Clinton, meanwhile, was more self-deprecating than Trump, joking that she's taken a break from her "usual nap schedule'' to attend and suggesting that the audience should be pleased she's not charging her usual fee for speaking in front of potential donors.

But she also got in some digs at Trump, a few of which drew scattered jeers. Clinton said she understood why Trump was leery of teleprompters because they can be difficult to follow and "I'm sure it's even harder when you're translating from the original Russian.''

"Donald really is healthy as a horse," she said. "You know, the one Vladimir Putin rides around on."

The dinner is named after the former New York governor, who was the first Catholic to receive a major party nomination for president when he unsuccessfully ran in 1928. And fittingly for an event named after a man nicknamed "The Happy Warrior,'' the occasion has produced dozens of memorable presidential jokes and sincere moments of goodwill that have remained largely absent from the 2016 campaign.

 

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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