[justlurking]

I also have this suspicion that Trump and Clinton never spoke with each other that night ... and that Huma Abedin (or someone else) actually did the deed herself.

That's very perceptive.

As I remember, Trump made an appearance shortly after the alleged phone call. What did he say? Something like: "Sorry for the delay... complicated business".

At the time, I wondered what was going on behind the scenes. It makes sense that someone with a rational demeanor -- perhaps even Bill Clinton himself -- called Trump and said: "Hillary is indisposed at the moment, but she offers her congratulations, and she will speak tomorrow."

[Alberta's Child]

What tipped me off to the whole thing was the report that the phone call only lasted about a minute. Trump would have carried on for far longer than that -- even in a gracious, magnanimous way -- if he had been talking to Hillary Clinton.

That suggested to me that the call was abrupt and reflected a lot of embarrassment on the other end from someone who wasn't expecting to ever be in a position to make a call like that.