Post-debate, Trump team hits moderator Holt for 'hostile questions'

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his campaign has complained that debate moderator Lester Holt had targeted him for unfair questioning while neglecting to ask his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton about any of her various scandals.

"They were leaving all of her little goodies out. They didn't ask her about, you know, much," Trump had said to Fox News on Tuesday.

"But I was asked about my tax returns, which I've told about 500 times. .. - I think I really did well when we were asked normal questions. ... , but those questions are not answerable in a positive light," politico.com reported.

However, Trump was upbeat overall about the debate, which he said "went really well" despite "some hostile questions."

The Manhattan billionaire gave Holt a C+ for his performance as moderator, praising him for his issue-based questions in the first 45 minutes of the debate but attacking him as biased for a series of more direct questions.

Holt had grilled him about a housing discrimination lawsuit filed against Trump's real estate company in the 1970s, even though it was Clinton who had brought up the Justice Department lawsuit.

"I didn't think he did a bad job. ... you watch the last four questions, he hit me on birther, he hit me on a housing deal from many years ago that I settled with no recourse and no guilt," Trump said.

"Well, he didn't ask her about the emails at all. He didn't ask her about her scandals. He didn't ask her about the Benghazi deal that she destroyed," Trump complained.

Trump said Holt did not question Hillary about a lot of things, including her foundation.

Attacking Holt became a running theme from Trump's campaign on Tuesday, as both his running mate and campaign manager took to the morning shows on television to criticise the moderator.

They said that they were "disappointed that Lester did not get into some of the issues that had been in so much of the forefront of Hillary Clinton's candidacy - the FBI investigation, pay to play, ... Benghazi and Libya ..," GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence said on Good Morning America.

Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway took a similar line, saying on CNN that there were topics she wished Holt would have raised.

"I just would have liked .. more about Benghazi or e-mails or the Clinton foundation since these are very clearly in the news," she said.

She pointed out that one of the "guests last night was Mark Geist, ..a Benghazi hero and survivor. ... I think it's a good reminder to .. Americans of what her (Clinton) record is on that particular issue."

--IANS

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