Donald Trump says he did not attack Bill Clinton during presidential debate as he respects Chelsea Clinton too much

Mr Trump hinted he still might go in for the kill at the second debate on 9 October

Mr Trump hinted he might give more detail at the next debate (AP)

Donald Trump’s campaign manager said she appreciated the candidate’s "restraint" at the end of the presidential debate by not mentioning Bill Clinton’s alleged extramarital affairs.

Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe the morning after the first presidential debate, Kellyanne Conway said: "And I have to say, certainly as a woman, I appreciated the restraint at the end.

"I’m not sure I would have been able to exercise it myself, but restraint is a virtue and it’s a presidential virtue."

Mr Trump said he decided not "go rough" because his rival’s husband and daughter, Chelsea, were in the audience.

He threatened before the debate to invite Gennifer Flowers to sit in the front row. The former model said during Mr Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign that she had had a 12-year affair with the Democrat.

He withdrew the invitation, but still hinted that he had been planning to talk about her husband.

"I was going to say something extremely rough to Hillary, to her family," he said.

"And I said to myself I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. It’s inappropriate, it’s not nice. But she’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars on negative ads on me.."

"It’s not nice and I don’t deserve that. But it’s certainly not a nice thing that she’s done."

In the spin room after the debate, Mr Trump told reporters he had said everything he wanted to say "except for the transgressions of Bill".

"I’m very happy that I was able to hold back on the indiscretions with respect to Bill Clinton because I have a lot of respect for Chelsea Clinton and I just didn’t want to say what I was going to say."

Chelsea Clinton is believed to be a close friend of his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.

He added: "I’ll tell you maybe at the next debate, we’ll see."