Hillary Clinton says Trump made her 'skin crawl' during TV debate

'We were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me,' Ms Clinton says

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump walk off the stage after the final presidential debate on 19 October (AFP/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton has said that Donald Trump made her skin crawl when he appeared to stalk her around the stage in a campaign debate last year.

In audio excerpts of her book “What Happened” aired on MSNBC, Ms Clinton described the 9 October event in St Louis. Mr Trump, who went on to win the presidential election in November, took full advantage of the town hall debate format by moving around instead of sitting in his chair, following Ms Clinton closely as she took questions from the live audience.

“This is not OK, I thought,” Ms Clinton says. “It was the second presidential debate and Donald Trump was looming behind me.”

The debate took place two days after an audiotape emerged in which Mr Trump was heard bragging about groping women.

“We were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled,” Ms Clinton says in her book.

“It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching: ‘Well, what would you do?’ Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren't repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly: ‘Back up, you creep. Get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women but you can't intimidate me.’”

Ms Clinton says she chose the first option.

“I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men trying to throw me off,” she says.

But Ms Clinton wonders whether she should have chosen the second option.

“It certainly would have been better TV,” she says. “Maybe I have over-learned the lesson of staying calm, biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while, determined to present a composed face to the world.”

Mr Trump’s movements drew widespread criticism in post-debate commentary and on social media.

Twitter users described Mr Trump’s body language as “intimidating and gross”, and Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told reporters in the post-debate spin room that the Republican nominee had been “menacingly stalking” Ms Clinton on stage.

The day after the debate, the headline “Take a seat, loser!” was splashed across the front page of the New York Daily News, next to a picture of Mr Trump clutching the back of his seat.

Nigel Farage, the former leader of Britain’s pro-Brexit UKIP party and a reported unofficial advisor to Mr Trump, denied at the time that the Republican nominee was trying to intimidate Ms Clinton.

But he did admit that portions of the debate had been “excruciating” to watch. “I thought he was like a big silverback gorilla, prowling the studio,” Mr Farage told reporters.

Ms Clinton’s book, which describes her experience as the Democratic Party's nominee for president, is scheduled to be released in the coming weeks.

“Every day that I was a candidate for president, I knew that millions of people were counting on me and I couldn't bear the idea of letting them down. But I did,” she says. “I couldn't get the job done.”