"I have never said anything like that, ever," Mrs Clinton said. "I have in the past certainly, you know maybe, called somebody a name. But I have never used an ethnic, racial, anti-Semitic, bigoted, discriminatory, prejudiced, accusation against anybody. I've never done it. I've never thought it."
Mr Clinton, who is trying to bring about a Middle East peace deal at Camp David, backed her up. "I was there on election night in 1974 and the charge is simply not true," he said.
"She might have called him a *******, I wouldn't rule that out. She's never claimed that she was pure on profanity. But I've never heard her tell a joke with an ethnic connotation. She's so fanatic about it. It's not in her."