Stop whining

President Barack Obama issued a scathing rebuke Tuesday to Donald Trump on the eve of the final election debate, blasting him for "whining" about "rigged" elections.

Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton are set for their final presidential debate today, with three weeks to go before Americans head to the polls on November 8.

It is seen as a last chance for the Republican nominee, dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct and sinking poll numbers, to make his mark on millions of voters.

But with Trump pressing the dangerous conspiracy theory that the US election is "rigged," Obama abandoned diplomatic decorum and skewered the mogul from the Rose Garden in front of visiting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

"I have never seen in my lifetime, or in modern political history, any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place. It's unprecedented," Obama told a joint press conference.

"That is both irresponsible -- and, by the way, it doesn't really show the kind of leadership and toughness that you'd want out of a president. You start whining before the game's even over?

"I'd advise Mr Trump to stop whining, and go try to make his case to get votes."

MELANIA DEFENDS TRUMP

Trump's campaign has reeled in the face of his lewd comments about women and accusations of sexual assault from several women.

His team has deployed his wife Melania in a media blitz to try to tamp down the furor over the allegations, with interviews airing late Monday on CNN and early Tuesday on Fox News.

"Those words, they were offensive to me and they were inappropriate. And he apologized to me. And I accept his apology. And we are moving on," Trump told Fox.

A firestorm erupted earlier this month when a 2005 video was made public and caught Trump saying lewd things about women, in a mostly off-camera conversation with host Billy Bush of the show "Access Hollywood."

Melania Trump told CNN that she felt her husband had been "egged on by the host to say dirty and bad stuff."