‘Nasty’ Hillary brands Trump racist over claims Obama wasn’t US-born and sexist for calling women ‘pigs’ in savage first presidential debate
The tech billionaire singled out Boston Dynamic's back-flipping bot to make a harrowing point
HILLARY Clinton branded Donald Trump racist and sexist in a bad-tempered clash as the White House candidates went head-to-head during the first US presidential debate.
Clinton accused Trump of spreading a “racist lie” that Barack Obama was not an American citizen, adding that the billionaire businessman “has a long record of engaging in racist behaviour”.
Clinton also called into question Trump’s alleged sexist remarks about women, reminding the audience at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York of him previously calling women “pigs”, "dogs"and other derogatory names.
But he hit back over her 'nasty' comments adding she does not have the look or stamina to be the next President.
He also took the moral high ground after the debate by revealing he restrained from bringing up her husband's various sex scandals, including an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
When asked by CNN if there was anything he would change about his rough and tumble debate performance he answered in the negative.
"No, I was very happy that I was able to hold back on the, you know, 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," Trump said.
I was very happy that I was able to hold back on the, you know, indiscretions with respect to Bill Clinton because I have a lot of respect for Chelsea Clinton
Donald Trump to CNN
Clinton’s stinging attacks on Trump came as the rivals shouted back and forth at one another throughout the debate.
Both repeatedly accused the other of being unfit to serve as president and called into question the other candidate’s record on security, employment, race issues and gun crime.
Donald Trump kicked off the debate touting his plan to create jobs and claiming that Mexico and other countries are "stealing them."
Trump said, "Our jobs are fleeing the country, they're going to Mexico and many other countries."
He added, "We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us" and is claiming that Mexico's factory building is like "the 8th wonder of the world."
'THANKS A LOT B**CH!' Reporter flips in press scrum for interview with Trump critic
A journalist gave a great viral moment ahead of the first presidential debate when she turned to a woman who got in her way and yelled “Thanks a lot, b***h.”
Kimberly Halkett, from Al Jazeera English, made the outburst before the debate even started as she tried to get an interview with businessman and Clinton supporter Mark Cuban when she was pushed out of the way by another female reporter.
Halkett hasn't yet commented on the clip.
Trump called for renegotiating U.S. trade deals and says job creation will flourish under a Trump administration because of his plans to lower taxes and scale back regulations.
Hillary Clinton responded by criticizing Donald Trump over a loan he got from his father to start his business career.
The Democratic presidential candidate is calling her Republican rival's tax cut proposals "Trumped-up trickle-down" economics.
Clinton added that Trump "really believes the more you help wealthy people, the better off we'll be." and criticized her opponent's aggressive stance on trade, saying the U.S. is "5 percent of the world population" and that means having to trade with the other 95 percent of the world.
Hillary Clinton asked American voters to decide whether she or Donald Trump can ";make your life better."
She opened the debate pitching her economic policies as the best way to help most voters.
She added that voters should use the first of three debates to assess "who can shoulder the immense, awesome responsibilities of the presidency" and who can "put into action" their plans.
Both Trump and Clinton deny making statements they are on record as having said
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, in the opening presidential debate, both denied making statements that they are plainly on record as having said.
A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts:
Clinton, denying Trump's accusation that she called the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the "gold standard" of trade agreements: "I did say I hoped it would be a good deal."
THE FACTS: Trump is correct. As secretary of state, Clinton called the deal that was taking shape the "gold standard" of trade agreements, in a 2012 trip to Australia, and championed the agreement in other venues around the world. She did not merely express the hope it would turn out well.
Clinton flip-flopped into opposing the trade deal in the Democratic primary when facing Bernie Sanders, who was strongly opposed to it.
Meanwhile Trump, when Clinton accused him of calling climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese: "I did not say that."
THE FACTS: Yes he did, in the form of a 2012 tweet: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." He later claimed he was kidding, but he's also repeated the claim that climate change is a hoax, and one that benefits China.
Hillary Clinton says she was ready for Donald Trump to tell some whoppers in the first presidential debate.
The Democratic nominee is directing voters to her campaign website, HillaryClinton.com. It's been converted into a real-time fact-checker intended to correct Trump's misstatements.
Presidential debate highlights
- Clinton apologises for using a private email server as secretary of state
- Trump proposes trading his tax returns for Clinton's deleted personal messages
- Clinton slams Trump on his refusal to release his tax returns, on his “long record” of “racist behaviour"
- Clinton alleges Trump didn't pay one of his architects
- Trump promotes his new hotel
- Trump addresses birthism on President Obama saying "I got him to give the birth certificate"
- Clinton calls out Trump for saying "crazy things"
- Trump blames the Obama administration for the rise of the Islamic State group
- Clinton criticises Trump for his derogatory comments about women
- Trum hits back saying Clinton does not have the stamina or look to be president
- Trump's best line: “Hillary’s got experience but it’s bad experience.”
- Clinton’s best line: “I think Donald just criticised me for preparing for this debate. And yes I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And that’s a good thing.”
- Clinton in reply to a Trump's “We don’t have the money because it’s been squandered on your ideas” was: “Maybe it’s because you haven’t paid your taxes!”
- Trump had the sniffles
- Clinton mentioned Alicia Machado, a beauty pageant contestant who said Trump called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping”
- Trump says he'll support Clinton if she wins
She brought up the site when Trump was hammering her on taxes and regulations. He said he's "going into cut taxes big league. You're going to raise taxes big league. End of story."
Clinton retorted that she "kind of assumed there would be a lot of these charges and claims."
Clinton aides have said for days leading up to the debate they were worried that moderator Lester Holt would allow Trump to exaggerate and misstate facts.
Donald Trump says his tax plan may benefit the wealthy but it is also "a great thing for the middle class" because companies would invest more in building their businesses.
He says companies want to create jobs but they often move their money overseas because "taxes are so onerous."
Trump says Democrats and Republicans agree that the U.S. should cut a deal with companies to get them to bring their profits back. Yet politicians have not been able to make it happen, he says. Trump says there could be $5 trillion stuck overseas.
He says, "With a little leadership, you could get it here really quickly," adding such a development "would be beautiful."
Donald Trump says he'll release his tax returns if Hillary Clinton releases the "33,000 emails" she deleted from her private server.
The Republican nominee said Monday he would "go against" his lawyer's wishes and release them before the audit is complete if Clinton turned over the emails.
Moderator Lester Holt noted that, by law, Trump can release his tax returns even while under audit. Clinton suggested the celebrity businessman is refusing to release them because he is hiding "something terrible" like a low tax rate or a small amount of charitable contributions.
The highly anticipated clash between the Democratic former secretary of state and Republican real estate tycoon has generated massive international interest
Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump has a simple reason he won't release his tax returns: He's got something to hide.
The Democratic presidential nominee has some ideas what it might be.
She says during the first presidential debate that Trump may not be "as rich as he says he is." Or "maybe he's not as charitable" as he says he is. Clinton says perhaps Trump doesn't pay any federal income tax at all.
She noted that some of the Republican nominee's income tax returns in the 1970s showed Trump paid no federal income taxes in certain years. Trump disclosed the returns to New Jersey casino regulators.
Hillary Clinton is attacking Donald Trump on his business record, saying she's "relieved" her late father never had to work with the billionaire businessman.
Clinton said Trump has "stiffed" thousands of workers and small business owners and he should apologize to them. She also says an architect who designed a clubhouse for one of Trump's golf courses and was not properly paid was in the presidential debate audience.
Clinton's father, Hugh Rodham, was a successful textile merchant. The Democratic presidential nominee says Trump's business record, including his companies' multiple bankruptcies, show he'd be a poor president.
But Trump is defending his business prowess, saying many of his ventures had been successful and he has numerous business partners who were happy to work with him.
Hillary Clinton says fixing race relations comes down to two things: restoring trust between police and communities of color and reforming gun laws.
Clinton says gun violence is the leading cause of death among young African-American men. She says tackling the "plague of gun violence" is critical.
Trump held back from talking about Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair because his daughter Chelsea was in the audience
Trump revealed he bit his tongue when it came to bringing up Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair at the White House and other sex scandals.
In an interview with CNN, the brash Republican nominee said he wouldn't change anything about his debate performance.
He said: "I was very happy that I was able to hold back on the, you know, 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."
But he hinted he could blurt it out in the next debate.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani added: "He restrained himself from saying what I know he would have liked to, except for the fact that Chelsea Clinton was in the audience.
"And that is she enabled and supported a president who is a disgrace to the White House.
"He was one of the two presidents impeached. He was impeached because he took advantage of an intern, an intern that she attacked for six months – and she claims to be a feminist."
She says race remains a "significant issue" that too often determines where people live and go to school and how they're treated in the criminal justice system.
Donald Trump is talking about the importance of "law and order" in response to the moderator's question on how to heal racial divides.
He says if we don't have it, "we're not going to have a country." He says that in inner cities, African-American and Hispanic communities "are living in hell because it's so dangerous."
Trump says that if you walk down the streets in places like Chicago, "you get shot."
He goes on to cite the controversial "stop-and-frisk" policing tactic as a way to bring down crime. "Right now our police are afraid of doing anything," he says.
A federal judge ruled "stop-and-frisk" unconstitutional.
Trump's loud sniffing in the opening minutes of Monday's first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton is getting plenty of attention on social media.
Some are comparing it to Al Gore's sighing from the 2000 presidential debate.
The noticeable sniffing, or loud breathing, is generating hashtags like #trumpsniff on Twitter.
Much attention has been focused on both candidates' health going into the debate following Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis last month. Both candidates have since released details about their health history.
Donald Trump claims he never said climate change was a "hoax"; created by the Chinese.
But he did.
Trump tweeted in January 2014 that, "Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!"
In November, 2012, he said, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton made the charge during Monday night.
Trump is a denier of climate science.
Donald Trump later blamed Hillary Clinton for what he says have been "defective" trade agreements that have cost American jobs.
Trump says Mexico taxes American products imported there, but the U.S. does not tax Mexican imports.
He says Clinton's been "doing this for 30 years," a reference to her long career on the American political scene.
During that time, she's been first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state. Those are not jobs that would give her a primary role in crafting trade agreements.
Trump also criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was approved under President Bill Clinton, Mrs. Clinton's husband.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has said that 1994 deal had a "relatively small" impact on the U.S. economy.
Opinion polls show the two candidates in a very tight race, with the latest Reuters/Ipsos polling showing Clinton ahead by 4 percentage points, with 41 percent of likely voters.
The 90-minute debate, which started at 2am UK time, could sway undecided and independent voters who have yet to make up their minds - as well as voters from both parties who have tuned out the election until now.
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A second Reuters/Ipsos poll released earlier today showed half of America's likely voters would rely on the debates to help them make their choice.
More than half, 61 percent, were hoping for a civil debate and were not interested in the bitterness shown on the campaign trail.
The size of the television-viewing audience is expected to challenge the record of 80 million Americans who watched 1980's encounter between Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Republican Ronald Reagan.
Some commentators forecast Super Bowl-sized viewership of about 100 million people.
By contrast with the single-party debates held during the Republican and Democratic state nominating contests, the audience will be asked to remain silent and not applaud or respond to the candidates' remarks.
The debate will be divided into six 15-minute segments.
Both candidates concluded the first presidential debate by saying they will accept the outcome if the other wins.
Hillary Clinton spoke directly to viewers and said, “It's not about us, it's about you.”
Donald Trump initially dodged the same question, saying he would make a “seriously troubled” America “great again.” He added: “I'm going to be able to do it. I don't believe Hillary Clinton will.”
But Trump finished his answer by saying that if Clinton wins, “I will absolutely support her.”