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Debate: Trump says Clinton and Obama ‘created a vacuum’ for Isis – live updates Debate: Clinton delivers poised showing as Trump forced on the defensive – live
(35 minutes later)
3.54am BST
03:54
Trump says he will 'absolutely' accept outcome of election
Trump walks through the spin room. He’s asked, “will you accept the outcome of this election?”
“Oh yes, absolutely I will,” he says.
From the horse’s mouth.
3.48am BST
03:48
Top three most-Tweeted debate moments, via the good folks at Twitter:
1. Trump says he has “good temperament”2. Trump comments on stop and frisk3. Trump and Clinton exchange over plan for defeating ISIS
3.46am BST
03:46
Snap reaction:
Just ran into Scott Walker who called it a "draw" but said Trump "spent too much time on defense, which really exposed his inexperience"
Notice Trump sniffing all the time. Coke user?
.@HillaryClinton is tough as nails. She put @realDonaldTrump in his place. Now let's put her in hers: the White House. #DebateNight
Donald Trump proved once and for all he cannot change: ignorant, bullying, dishonest -- even worse than I expected and I didn't expect much.
Most debates are all about the first 30 minutes. This one was about the last 30 minutes.
Trump might have been verge of blowing himself up there but pulled back
Clinton clearly won. But I emphasize that I have no idea how people will see it or how it will affect polls. That's just how I saw it. 3/3
Who won tonite's debate?In my focus group, 6 people said Trump and 16 said Clinton. #DebateNightYou can say here: https://t.co/rFZYklEsdr
3.43am BST
03:43
Amber Jamieson
The cast of early 2000s hit sitcom Will & Grace reunited for a special election episode released Monday packed with 2016 campaign jokes - mocking Trump University and joking that voters should support Hillary Clinton because pop star Katy Perry does.
A nine-minute mini-episode was put online just an hour before the debate on Monday, although the actors had hinted it was coming earlier today. As Brian Moylan predicted in the Guardian this afternoon, the actors - several of whom are known Clinton backers - are basically just doing the show as a pro-Clinton ad - but at least it’s funny. As always, Karen Walker, the sardonic troublemaker who is the lone Trump supporter, gets all the best lines.
“You know Donald is one of my oldest friends. I helped him pick out Melania!” she says.
They talk about immigration and Latinos, and Karen, speaking about her maid Rosario (who was revealed as undocumented immigrant during the show), quips: “She owes me, I sent her to college.”
“You sent her to Trump University! To study dusting!” says Will.
“It’s what they teach,” replies Karen.
In the show, Karen had supposedly shot at Rosario, but that just became a comment about gun control.
“If Crooked Hillary had her way, I wouldn’t have that gun and I’d have to use my cannon and Rosario would be dead,” said Karen.
When Will complains that Trump uses hateful language to talk about people, Karen turns to Grace.
“Did you hear what your pussy gay Muslim boyfriend just said?” she asks.
Will’s friend Jack stars as the undecided voter who is considering not bothering to cast a ballot in November.
“But does my vote even matter? How can one unemployed white fella registered in Pennsylvania make a difference?” he asks.
Grace attempts to appeal as Clinton being the first female president. But Jack isn’t convinced, saying he hasn’t heard “the one thing that will convince me to vote for one candidate over the other”.
But Will knows exactly what to stay to win over the urban gay Jack. “Katy Perry likes Hillary,” he says.
At the end of the “episode”, the words #votehoney appears. Votehoney.com redirects viewers straight to hillaryclinton.com.
3.41am BST
03:41
It’s over. What do you think? Winner? Loser? Highlights? Lowlights?
3.40am BST
03:40
Fact check: ICE
Alan Yuhas
Trump: “I was just endorsed by ICE.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a government agency. It does not endorse political candidates. A group of former customs officials endorsed Trump just before the debate.
Updated
at 3.40am BST
3.39am BST
03:39
Last question: will you accept the outcome of the election?
Clinton says she will. But she’s asking for support because she believes livelihoods and families depend on it.
Trump says he wants to make America great again.
Updated
at 3.43am BST
3.38am BST
03:38
Does Trump have the right temperament to be president? 35% said yes. How about Clinton? 58% said yes. https://t.co/xNSvANQbjA pic.twitter.com/77UcwY0Sj8
3.37am BST
03:37
Fact check: the nuclear deal with Iran
Alan Yuhas
Trump on the Iran nuclear deal: “One of the worst deals ever made by any country in history.” He said $400m in cash was part of that deal – and Clinton was responsible.
Clinton had nothing to do with the delivery of $400m to Iran as part of a settlement for a failed arms deal that Tehran’s pre-revolutionary government had made with the US in the 1970s.
The State Department under John Kerry has admitted, however, that it wanted to use that money as “leverage” to secure the sailors’ release, although its transfer had been mediated through an international court. The money was delivered as foreign currency because US law bars any transaction in US dollars and sanctions make bank transactions difficult.
The US is not giving any of its own money to Iran as part of an international nuclear arms deal meant to prevent the construction of weapons. The deal gradually unfreezes assets that belong to Iran but were frozen under sanctions related to the nation’s nuclear program. Sanctions related to human rights, terrorism and other issues remain in place and still lock Iran out of billions.
Trump’s guess of how much Iran will benefit by unfrozen assets is far higher than most experts’ estimates, though not inconceivable. Treasury secretary Jack Lew has put the number at $56bn, and Iranian officials have said $32bn and $100bn. Independent economists have calculated that Iran will free up anything between $30bn to $100bn. Complicating the math are Iran’s debts: it will have to pay off tens of billions to countries such as China.
There is no evidence that the brief capture in January of 10 American sailors had any effect on the nuclear deal, which had been finalized five months earlier, although the incident rattled fragile relations between Washington and Tehran. A few days after the sailors were released, United Nations inspectors confirmed that Iran had complied with the deal.
What Iran does next remain an open question – subject to inspection by UN officials – and Clinton’s argument in favor of the deal hinges on a degree of good faith that Tehran will comply by the terms of the deal.
3.33am BST
03:33
Mona Chalabi
Donald Trump has questioned Hillary Clinton’s temperament, perhaps because voters are questioning Donald Trump’s temperament. A poll conducted by Monmouth University just last week found that 61% if respondents didn’t think Trump “has the right temperament to be president” while just 39% said the same of Clinton.
3.32am BST
03:32
Trump says the Iran deal “was one of the first deals ever made by any country in history.”
Holt tries to move on.
Trump: “I met with Bibi Netanyahu the other day. Believe me, he is not a happy camper.
Clinton: “I want to reassure our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere that we have mutual defense treaties and we will honor them... I want to on behalf of myself and I think on behalf of the majority of the American people say that ‘our word is good.’
“There’s no doubt that we have other problems with Iran... and Donald never tells you what he would do.. would he have bombed Iran?
“He should tell us what his alternative should be. It’s like his plan to defeat Isis. He says it’s a secret plan, but the only secret is that he has no plan...
“Are we going to lead the world with strength in accordance with our values? That’s what I intend to do... we cannot let those who would try to destabilize the world... to be given any opportunities at all.”
3.31am BST
03:31
Fact check: Nato and a hotel
Alan Yuhas
Trump has claimed that Nato must turn to a directly anti-terror campaign in the Middle East, and that his urging has already influenced the alliance.
But Nato has had a Defense Against Terrorism program since June 2004, almost a full 12 years before Trump called the alliance “obsolete”. In July its member nations decided to increase efforts against Isis, specifically, in Syria and Iraq, as its leaders had discussed for months. Trump was not involved.
Trump also claimed that his new Washington DC hotel came in before schedule and under budget.
Not quite. Per the AP:
A June 2013 press release posted on the Trump Organization’s website announced that the redevelopment of the old post office was “expected to start in 2014 with the hotel opening scheduled in 2016.” A few months later, the Trump Organization announced the expected grand opening of the hotel would happen at the end of 2015. The Trump Organization said in a third statement in 2013 ... completion was expected in late 2015.
In 2014, the Trump Organization went back to announcing the hotel would open in mid-2016. In February, in the midst of Trump’s presidential campaign, the organization shifted and announced the hotel was planned to open in September, “almost two years ahead of schedule, which is unheard of for a project of this size and complexity,” Ivanka Trump is quoted as saying.
And during a March visit to the site, Donald Trump said, “We’re two years ahead of schedule. We’re going to be opening in September.”
The hotel is now only partly open.
3.28am BST3.28am BST
03:2803:28
Holt moves to the last segment. Do you support the current policy on “first use” of nuclear weapons? It’s a bit of a gotcha question. He’s talking about no first use.Holt moves to the last segment. Do you support the current policy on “first use” of nuclear weapons? It’s a bit of a gotcha question. He’s talking about no first use.
Trump blathers about Russia, then says, “I would certainly not do first strike.”Trump blathers about Russia, then says, “I would certainly not do first strike.”
He says China should “go into North Korea.” Then he says Iran has power over North Korea. He’s casting an extremely wide net for this answer.He says China should “go into North Korea.” Then he says Iran has power over North Korea. He’s casting an extremely wide net for this answer.
UpdatedUpdated
at 3.29am BSTat 3.29am BST
3.28am BST3.28am BST
03:2803:28
As the candidates debate “securing America” with a particular focus on the threat of Isis and each candidate’s stance on the Iraq war, this chart offers some context:As the candidates debate “securing America” with a particular focus on the threat of Isis and each candidate’s stance on the Iraq war, this chart offers some context:
3.27am BST3.27am BST
03:2703:27
Clinton quotes Trump as saying “you know if they taunted our sailors, I’d blow them out of the water...” referring to sailors taken captive by Iran.Clinton quotes Trump as saying “you know if they taunted our sailors, I’d blow them out of the water...” referring to sailors taken captive by Iran.
Clinton continues on Trump’s temperament: “The worst.. has been about nuclear weapons. He has said repeatedly that he does not care if other countries got nuclear weapons..Clinton continues on Trump’s temperament: “The worst.. has been about nuclear weapons. He has said repeatedly that he does not care if other countries got nuclear weapons..
His cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons is so deeply troubling... A man who could be provoked with a tweet should not have his finger anywhere near the button.His cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons is so deeply troubling... A man who could be provoked with a tweet should not have his finger anywhere near the button.
Trump:Trump:
That line is getting a little bit old.That line is getting a little bit old.
Clinton:Clinton:
It’s a good one, though. Well describes the problem.It’s a good one, though. Well describes the problem.
3.24am BST
03:24
Clinton tweaks Trump for temperament boast
Trump: “I have much better judgment than he does. There’s no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she does...
I think my strongest asset maybe by far is my temperament. I have a winning temperament.
He’s raving about his perfect temperament.
Holt: Secretary Clinton?
Clinton: “Whoo! OK... ” She makes fun of him and gets a laugh.
Updated
at 3.26am BST
3.21am BST
03:21
Holt says that Trump supported the war in Iraq.
Trump flies off the handle: “That is a mainstream media nonsense put out by her!”
Holt: “The record shows otherwise.”
Trump: “The record shows that I’m right.”
Then he runs through his own history of his positions. He talks about Sean Hannity telling him, Trump, that he, Trump, opposed the war.
Trump is still talking. “If somebody would call up Sean Hannity, he and I used to have arguments.”
3.21am BST
03:21
Fact check: Isis, Libya and Iraq
Alan Yuhas
Trump: “President Obama and Secretary Clinton created a vacuum” for Isis.
The claim that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton created the conditions for Isis ignores that its first segments formed out of the post-invasion civil war in Iraq, while George W Bush was president; that the group took root in Syria’s civil war, where the US did not intervene until 2014; and that Obama withdrew American forces in 2011 under the timeline agreed on by Bush and Baghdad.
Clinton: “Donald supported the invasion of Iraq.”
Trump: “Wrong.”
This is a lie. In the months before the Iraq war began, the businessman made a tepid endorsement of invasion to radio host Howard Stern, who asked him whether he thought the US should attack Saddam Hussein.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Trump answered.
A few weeks later he told Fox News that George W Bush was “doing a very good job”. Several weeks after the invasion, Trump told the Washington Post: “The war’s a mess.” In August 2004 he told Esquire: “Two minutes after we leave, there’s going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over.”
Even in an interview cited by the Trump campaign to explain his “opposition”, Trump expressed impatience with Bush for not invading sooner. “Whatever happened to the days of the Douglas MacArthur? He would go and attack. He wouldn’t talk.”
Trump also supported complete withdrawal from Iraq, even in the event of continued civil war or authoritarian violence there. “You know how they get out? They get out. That’s how they get out. Declare victory and leave,” he told CNN in 2007. “This is a total catastrophe, and you might as well get out now because you’re just wasting time, and lives.”
Like Clinton, Trump also supported military strikes in Libya, saying in a February 2011 video blog that the US should take “immediate” action against dictator Muammar Ghaddafi.
“We should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically.” No one supported an occupation to “build democracy” there in the model of George W Bush’s occupation of Iraq.
Updated
at 3.28am BST
3.19am BST
03:19
Trump accuses Clinton of turning Iran into “a major power.”
On Nato, “they have to understand I’m a business person,” Trump says. He accuses allies of not “paying their fair share.”
Then Trump claims credit for Nato opening up a major terror division.
“I think we have to get Nato to go into the Middle East with us, and we have to knock the hell out of Isis, and we have to do it fast.”
Then Trump says that in fact Clinton did pull out the troops.
Clinton: We’ve covered this ground.
3.17am BST
03:17
Holt brings up domestic and homegrown terrorism. How to prevent those? Trump is first.
Trump goes back to Isis. He blames the formation of Isis on the precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. He suggests leaving 10,000 troops behind. “We should’ve taken the oil … Isis would not have been able to form either,” he says.
Trump refers to “Libya, which was another one of her disasters.”
Clinton again appeals to the refs, to the “fact-checkers.” Clinton says Trump supported the invasion of Iraq...
Trump: “Wrong. Wrong.”
... and Clinton says that George W Bush made an agreement to leave Iraq, not Obama.
This is basic history. Will it fly?
Clinton is on to the homegrown terrorism problem. She calls for an “intelligence surge.” She says that the US must work with Nato and allies to improve intelligence and turn attention to terrorism. “Donald has consistently insulted Muslims abroad, Muslims at home, when we need to be cooperating.”
Updated
at 3.19am BST
3.16am BST
03:16
Fact check: foreign policy
Alan Yuhas
Clinton: Trump has been “praiseworthy of Vladimir Putin”.
Trump: “Wrong.”
Trump has repeatedly called Russia’s president a “strong leader” and spoken approvingly – “praise” by nearly any definition – of this strength and Putin’s polling numbers. For instance, on 18 December 2015 he told MSNBC: “I’ve always felt fine about Putin. I think that he’s a strong leader.”
He added: “He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country.”
Last September, he told Fox News: “In terms of leadership [Putin’s] getting an A.” In a 10 March debate, Trump tried to hedge on semantics. “Strong doesn’t mean good,” he said. “Putin is a strong leader, absolutely. He is a strong leader. Now I don’t say that in a good way or a bad way. I say it as a fact.”
Trump: Clinton has been “fighting Isis your entire adult life.”
The Islamic State’s first segments formed out of the post-invasion civil war in Iraq, while George W Bush was president. The group took root in Syria’s civil war, where the US did not intervene until 2014. The terror group largely formed out of the remnants of Saddam Hussein’s government and the factions that formed al-Qaida in Iraq – all of which happened in the last decade or so. The group also gained international notoriety only in 2014, when it invaded Iraq in significant forces and when Clinton was out of office.
Trump: “Whether [the DNC hack] was Russia, whether that was China, whether that was another country, we don’t know.”
Several independent security firms, in addition to intelligence officials, have pointed to Russian-backed hackers as the culprits behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee. Trump is correct in an extremely technical sense: no one has provided 100% proof that Russia was behind the hack, and the Obama administration has proven loath to escalate a hacking war. But security experts have found technical fingerprints that seem to hint back toward Russia, just as they have found links back to Chinese hacks in unrelated cases.
3.13am BST
03:13
Clinton says she has a plan to defeat Isis that involves combatting them online. “But we also have to intensify our air strikes against Isis and … support our Arab and Kurdish partners...”
“We’re making progress, our military is … in Iraq,” she says. “We’re hoping that within a year we’ll be able to push Isis out of Iraq.”
She ignores Trump’s defense of Russia on the hacking. She says that taking out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a top plank in her plan to take out Isis.
Updated
at 3.15am BST
3.11am BST
03:11
Mona Chalabi
Donald Trump has tried to deflect a question about how he demanded to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Those racist attitudes are still prevalent among the Republican’s supporters.
A poll in May found that two-thirds of voters with a favorable opinion of Donald Trump believed Barack Obama was a Muslim and 59% believed Obama was born outside of the US.
3.11am BST
03:11
Trump defends Russia from accusation of hacking DNC
Trump says he was endorsed by more than 200 admirals and generals “and many more are coming.” “So when secretary Clinton says this... I’ll take the admirals and the generals over the political hacks.”
That line may not play well in northern Virginia.
Trump casts doubt on the notion that the DNC hacking was Russia-backed. He says it may have been China, or bizarrely, a “400-lb person sitting on their bed.”
“Under President Obama, we’ve lost control of things we should have had control over.. we have to get very, very tough on cyber and cyber warfare.”
Updated
at 3.14am BST
3.09am BST
03:09
Clinton takes a question on cyber war. She says that Trump has praised Russian president Vladimir Putin. Trump does something strange to the microphone. Kind of swoops on it and blows into it with his full round mouth.
Clinton: “We need to make it very clear.. the United States has much greater capacity, and we are not going to sit idly by to let state actors go after our information.
“I was so shocked when Donald publicly invited Putin to hack into Americans. That is just unacceptable... Donald is unfit to be commander-in-chief.”
Updated
at 3.11am BST