Trump Calls Clinton "Corrupt" at a Charity Dinner

A charity event turned ugly Thursday night when GOP nominee Donald Trump earned boos for some shockingly below-the-belt comments about his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The Al Smith Dinner takes place every four years following the final debate in the presidential election, a time when the candidates put aside their differences and come together to make lighthearted jokes at each other's expense as well as their own. The event also serves as a charity fundraiser for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, one attended by religious figures, notable politicians, and members of the press corps.

Trump noted that it's customary for the candidates to make self-deprecating jokes. Four years ago, the Republican Mitt Romney -- dressed in a white-tie tuxedo -- said that it was "nice to finally relax and to wear what Ann and I wear around the house." At the same dinner, Barack Obama apologized for not being Michelle.

The CEO, however, illustrated that this would not be business as usual, comparing himself to Jesus. According to Trump, he too was a "carpenter working for his father" as a young boy.

That's not to say that Trump, whose career as an entertainer includes hosting The Apprentice, didn't land some big laughs. Commenting on "media bias," he said, "Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. They think she is absolutely great. My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech and people get on her case. I don't get it. I don't know why."

Things took a turn for the worse, however, when he began to criticize his competition in the race, reviving his "Crooked Hillary" line from weeks past.

"Hillary is so corrupt she got kicked off the Watergate Commission," Trump said. "How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission?" He further criticized Clinton's campaign pitch to the voting public: "The economy is busted, the government's corrupt, Washington is failing. Vote for me."

Those comments earned Trump loud jeers from the audience, and those reactions continued to roll in as the CEO alluded to comments Clinton campaign staffers made about religious groups, unveiled in a recent dump from WikiLeaks.

"Here she is in public pretending not to hate Catholics," Trump said.

The conservative politician also took a jab at Hillary's ties to the Clinton Foundation, which his campaign has criticized for its relief efforts in Haiti following the earthquakes that rocked the country. "State Department officials actually directed contracts for the Haitian recovery after the earthquake to friends of the Clintons," Trump's vice-presidential pick, Mike Pence, told Meet the Press. That claim has been debunked.

"Everyone knows, of course, Hillary's belief that, 'It takes a village,' which only makes sense, after all, in places like Haiti, where she's taken a number of them," Trump said.

This is a marked contrast to the conciliatory tone struck by previous attendees of the quadrennial dinner. In 2012, Romney used the event to bury the hatchet with Obama, a man he claimed to admire very much. "In our country, you can oppose someone in politics and make a confident case against their policies without any ill will," the former Massachusetts governor said.

The gold standard is perhaps Republican John McCain's remarks about Obama's history-making run to the White House in 2008.

"Sen. Obama talks about making history, and he has made quite a bit of it already," McCain said. "There was a time when the mere invitation of an African-American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult in many corridors. Today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time, and good riddance. I can't wish my opponent luck but I do wish him well."

Clinton, for her part, balanced some strong jabs at her opponent's history of sexist attacks on women, including a claim that primary hopeful Carly Fiorina was too ugly to vote for, with a call for national unity.

"People look at the Statue of Liberty and they see a proud symbol of our history as a nation of immigrants," Hillary said. "A beacon of hope for people around the world. Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four -- maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair."

The candidate, who joked about her health by saying that she was "[taking] a break from [her] rigorous nap schedule to be here," highlighted the commonalities of her Methodist upbringing with the Catholic faith.

"One of the things that we share the belief that in order to achieve salvation, we need both faith and good works," she said, adding: "We need to get better at finding ways to disagree on matters of policy, while agreeing on matters of decency and civility, how to talk to each other, treat each other, [and] respect each other."

If that can't bring the divided country together, Hillary knows what will. She said, "Let's come together, remember what unites us, and just rip on Ted Cruz."