Did Hillary Clinton or other opponents mention Trump's hand size in 2016 debates or ads?

1. Where the “small hands” line started and who used it

The thread in these reports traces the renewed joke to Marco Rubio’s February 2016 rally quip — “I don’t understand why his hands are the size of someone who’s 5‑2” and “you know what they say about men with small hands — you can’t trust ’em” — which media then tied to the March 3 GOP debate exchange where Trump fired back ^{[1] [7] [3]}. Coverage from ABC, BBC, The Hill and others repeatedly cite Rubio and other Republican rivals as the originators of the 2016 public discussion of Trump’s hands ^{[1] [7] [2]}.

2. The debate moment people remember

Multiple outlets describe Trump’s onstage retort at the Fox News debate: he displayed his hands and made the double‑entendre claim defending himself — a moment widely replayed and summarized in U.S. and international media ^{[3] [2] [8]}. Reporters noted the line moved coverage into sexually suggestive territory and became a cultural meme ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Did Hillary Clinton use the hand-size jab in debates or ads?

The supplied search results include contemporaneous reporting and post‑campaign analyses of debates and ads but do not show Hillary Clinton directly referencing Trump’s hand size in the 2016 debates or in her campaign’s major advertisements ^{[5] [6] [9]}. Coverage of the Clinton–Trump presidential debates highlights body language and the lack of a handshake in the second debate but does not record Clinton mocking hand size ^{[10] [11]}. If you are looking for explicit instances of Clinton mocking hand size, available sources do not mention such a line by her in debates or official ads.

4. Did Clinton’s campaign run “size”‑based ads or rely on personal attacks?

Scholars and tracking projects find the 2016 campaign featured many character‑focused attacks and that Team Clinton ran more ad volume than Trump late in the campaign ^{[9] [6] [12]}. Academic content analyses say Clinton’s advertising strategy often attacked Trump’s fitness or character, but the materials here emphasize policy and fitness claims rather than a recurring, overt “small hands” creative theme in Clinton’s official ads ^{[9] [6]}. Time’s roundup of notable ads notes at least one ad that implied “size” matters, but that ad was an independent viral spot rather than an official Hillary for America ad, and the source frames it as among many memorable, low‑brow moments in 2016 ad creative ^[5].

5. Media and cultural amplification — independent outlets, satire, and memes

The hand‑size joke quickly moved beyond the campaign trail into late‑night TV, satire, celebrity commentary and memes ^{[4] [13]}. NewsWeek, The Guardian and others later investigated or joked about measurements and photos; Madame Tussauds and cultural pieces treated the gag as part of the candidate’s larger public persona ^{[14] [15] [4]}. That cultural diffusion can create the impression an idea came from multiple sources even when it originated with one rival ^{[7] [1]}.

6. How to interpret conflicting accounts and limits of the available reporting

Reporting in this packet uniformly credits Rubio and other GOP rivals with reviving the joke and records Trump’s debate reply — but none of these provided sources document Hillary Clinton or her official ads using the “small hands” jab in debates or as a campaign ad line ^{[1] [3] [6]}. That does not prove she never made an off‑hand remark in private events or social posts; it only means the current reporting in this collection does not mention such instances (not found in current reporting).

Bottom line: Republican rivals (notably Marco Rubio) pushed the “small hands” line in early 2016 and Trump answered it on the March GOP debate stage; the sources gathered here do not show Hillary Clinton employing that particular jab in the presidential debates or in her major campaign advertisements ^{[1] [3] [6]}.