Washington: It's the latest chapter in a truly bizarre presidential campaign.
Republican candidate Donald Trump used Twitter on Saturday to seemingly invite Gennifer Flowers, who once had an affair with Bill Clinton, to this week's first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton.
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Ms Flowers confirmed she would attend Monday night's debate (broadcast in Australia on Tuesday) in a text message to The New York Times: "Yes I will be there."
However after the Trump campaign declined to comment on Ms Flowers all day Saturday, it said on Sunday morning that she would not be at the debate because Mr Trump hadn't invited her after all.
Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN that the Trump campaign has not "formally invited" Gennifer Flowers to be at debate and doesn't expect her to be there.
The decision was the latest event in a bizarre build-up of gamesmanship between the Clinton and Trump campaigns over the debate. Mrs Clinton's camp has confirmed that it would invite billionaire Mark Cuban, a Trump antagonist, to the debate.
Mr Trump threatened to invite Ms Flowers after Mr Cuban said he would be in the front row for the debate.
Just got a front row seat to watch @HillaryClinton overwhelm @realDonaldTrump at the "Humbling at Hofstra" on Monday. It Is On !
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 23, 2016
Mr Trump soon took the bait, tweeting a response that he was up to the challenge:
If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2016
Raising the temperature further ahead of the debate, Mr Trump also said he'd do more to help women from the White House than Mrs Clinton, a lifelong champion of women's rights.
"My opponent likes to say that for decades she's been fighting for women. Why, then, are 70 million American women and children living in poverty or on the brink of poverty in our country?" Mr Trump asked a rally crowd in Virginia on Saturday.
"For years she's been doing this and she's done nothing."
Ms Flowers revealed an affair with Bill Clinton during his 1992 presidential campaign. He initially denied the relationship, but later admitted the sexual relationship under oath.
What seemed initially like Trump bluster soon took on a more serious tone when Ms Flowers responded on her own Twitter account.
Hi Donald. You know I'm in your corner and will definitely be at the debate!...
— Gennifer Flowers (@gennflowers) September 24, 2016
Ms Flowers said during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign that the two of them had engaged in a lengthy affair over a dozen years. The allegation, which Mr Clinton denied at the time, threatened to ruin his campaign.
In 1998, Bill Clinton acknowledged under oath having a sexual encounter with Flowers, though he disputed details of her account.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump are to face off in the first of three televised presidential debates on Monday evening (Tuesday morning AEST).
A Washington Post poll on the weekend had the two candidates in a "dead heat". Likely voters split 46 per cent for Mrs Clinton vs 44 per cent for Mr Trump, with Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at 5 per cent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein at 1 per cent.
Among registered voters, Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump are tied at 41 per cent, with Mr Johnson at 7 per cent and Ms Stein at 2 per cent.
DPA and The Washington Post