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Halyna Sorensen's question To Trump during a town hall-style event that drew 3,000 people Fiorina's controversial business record -- not just at Hewlett-Packard, but at a lesser-known technology company called Lucent.
Sorensen, 66, was a Lucent employee when Fiorina took
over a division of that company. And soon after Fiorina took over, Sorensen
said she was forced to retire as part of changes Fiorina instituted.
Sorensen accused Fiorina of mismanaging the company,
sending stock prices tumbling and, with it, taking nearly $500,000 Sorensen
said she had invested as part of a retirement plan.
"She put our company Lucent Technologies in the
ground," Sorensen said at the event in Rochester.
Trump perked up: "Carly Fiorina -- say it again
-- people might as well hear it. I mean people have to learn."
Go ahead, tell me," Trump said.
During Fiorina's tenure, the company overextended
itself, reportedly "making big loans to sketchy customers," according
to a 2010 Fortune magazine story that examined Fiorina's record at the
tech firm. The result: stock prices plunged.
The exchange came less than 24 hours after Trump and
Fiorina sparred on the opposite side of the country, knocking each other's
business records during CNN's Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library in California.
When asked why he couldn't hold back as Fiorina's
record came up during the debate, Trump told CNN that record is an important
issue voters should know about.
"You have to know about her past," Trump
told CNN of Fiorina after the event. "Her past is terrible. She can't be
elected."
Fiorina's camp did not respond to a CNN request for
comment about her record as a Lucent executive in the late 1990s.
Voters can expect more fireworks between the two GOP
candidates as Trump has emerged as Fiorina's fiercest critic -- repeatedly
bringing up Fiorina's business record in recent weeks -- while Fiorina has not
hesitated to take on the front-runner.
They will also have to duke it out as voters looking
for a candidate with outsider appeal are drawn to both, neither of which have
held elected office. And while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has surged to
the No. 2 spot off Trump's outsider appeal, Fiorina's debate performance may
see her rise in the polls to become a real challenger and potential threat to
Trump.
For Sorensen, that's not an option.
"When (Trump) says something he does it. He walks
the talk. He doesn't just say it and forget about it. Carly Fiorina, she's a
'yes' person," Sorensen said. "Carly Fiorina is a waste of
breath."
