Aide posts Clinton's practice video of avoiding 'Trump's unwanted hug'

A former aide of Hillary Clinton has posted a tongue-in-cheek video in which he pretends to give Clinton an unwanted hug as they practice for a debate with Donald Trump.

Philippe Reines, who stood in as Mr Trump during a mock debate with Clinton in September last year, posted the rare insider video from the Clinton camp to his Twitter account overnight.

"Not easy to avoid the unwanted Trump hug, sometimes even takes practice," he tweeted.

"A favourite moment from debate prep."

In the video, Ms Clinton and Mr Reines can be seen standing near lecterns before walking towards each other, waving, when a voice out of shot introduces them as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald J Trump.

As the pair move in to shake hands, Mr Reines changes the positioning of his arms and offers to hug Ms Clinton. She refuses by instead high-fiving one of Mr Reines' hands before raising a hand in the air in a salute to the pretend debate audience.

In a cheeky move, Mr Reines latches onto Ms Clinton's arm and chases her a few steps as she tries to break free.

As staff filming the mock event erupt in fits of giggles and laughter, Mr Reines wraps his arms around Ms Clinton in a bear hug and kisses her a number of times light on the back of the head.

After finally releasing her, Ms Clinton and Mr Reines stumble back to their sides of the floor, both are in hysterics.

"I bust out laughing when I saw this video this morning," Ms Clinton tweeted today.

"Hope it brightens your day."

Mr Reines worked for Ms Clinton when she was secretary of state in President Barrack Obama's administration.