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Who won the presidential debate tonight?
- Donald Trump (63%, 24,312 Votes)
- Hillary Clinton (37%, 14,292 Votes)
Total Voters: 38,601
Donald Trump apparently delivered his strongest presidential debate yet tonight, according to voters watching the debate.
Votes are still being tabulated as the debate is in its final minutes, but so far Trump has a solid lead in poll votes from across the country. Take our poll here and tell us who you feel is winning the debate tonight so far.
Then, read here for fact-checking from tonight’s debate. And finally, read blow-by-blow results below on the third and final presidential debate that concluded tonight.
Here are the latest updates from AP from the third and final presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, less than three weeks before the Nov. 8 election (all times EDT):
10:40 p.m.
Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton is “such a nasty woman.”
Trump made the remark while Clinton was talking in the last presidential debate Wednesday about preserving Social Security and Medicare. She says her plan to save both programs would raise Social Security taxes on the wealthy, including her and Trump, “assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it.”
As she continued talking Trump interjected, “Such a nasty woman.”
Clinton did not react to the comment and instead completed her statement on her plans for Social Security and Medicare.
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10:37 p.m.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton agree: There’ll be no “grand bargain” on entitlements.
Both presidential candidates reject the idea of a bipartisan deal to raise taxes and cut benefits to avoid running out of money to fund Social Security and Medicaid in coming decades.
Trump says he will make the economy grow and repeal President Obama’s health care law.
Clinton says she’ll raise taxes on the wealthy to help fund Social Security. But she says she wants to expand benefits rather than cut them.
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10:35 p.m.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are sparring over who has the better plan to shrink the national debt and spur the U.S. economy.
Trump is pushing back against a report from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that said his proposed economic policies would grow the national debt. Trump says he would hire experts, and not “political hacks,” to negotiate more favorable trade deals.
Trump says under his administration Americans would have more jobs that pay better.
Clinton says Trump’s economic plans are geared toward helping the rich while she is focused on helping the middle class, a difference she attributes to Trump’s privileged upbringing. Clinton says she takes shrinking the national debt seriously, and none of her new proposals would add to it.
10:33 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says imposing a no-fly zone over Syria can save lives on the ground while speeding the end of the fighting in that country.
She acknowledges in the third and final debate with Donald Trump that enforcing a no-fly zone “would take a lot of negotiation.”
Clinton says she thinks “we could strike a deal” and make it clear to Russian and Syrian leaders that “this was the best for people on the ground.”
Donald Trump is responding that Clinton would allow potential terrorists into the United States as refugees from Syria.
Clinton counters that she wouldn’t allow refugees to immigrate without being properly vetted, but says she also wouldn’t close U.S. borders to women and children fleeing war.
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10:30 p.m.
Donald Trump is again asserting that U.S. involvement in the war-torn city of Aleppo, Syria, is not a worthwhile cause.
Aleppo is the center of the years-long Syrian civil war between President Bashar Assad and rebel forces. Russia is backing Assad.
Trump says Aleppo is a “humanitarian nightmare” but suggests that keeping Assad in power may be better than replacing him, because Assad and Russia both oppose the Islamic State group.
Trump says the United States would be in better shape if it had “done nothing” in Syria.
The United States has protested Russia’s bombardment of Aleppo. It says civilians are being slaughtered to prop up Assad’s regime.
10:26 p.m.
Donald Trump is once again denying that he supported the invasion of Iraq.
Trump said “Wrong” in Wednesday’s final presidential debate when Hillary Clinton said he supported the invasion in 2002.
Trump actually offered lukewarm support for invading Iraq before the war began. He’s repeatedly and erroneously claimed to have come out against the war before it started, telling Howard Stern in September 2002: “Yeah I guess so,” when asked if he would back an invasion.
Clinton says in the debate that anyone questioning what Trump’s position was could simply google it and find “dozens of sources” showing he was for it.
Clinton says,” He has not told the truth on that position.”
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10:25 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says she’s “encouraged” by the Iraqi-led offensive to retake the city of Mosul.
Donald Trump says it’s only an issue because the Obama administration — and Clinton while at the State Department — pulled troops from Iraq in the first place.
Clinton outlined her military plan to take out the Islamic State group. She said coalition forces should push the fight into the group’s Syrian headquarters after Mosul is retaken. She also called for an “intelligence surge” online and on the ground focused on the Islamic State.
Trump is not detailing his plan. He says, “What ever happened to the element of surprise?”
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10:22 p.m.
Donald Trump tried to lighten a serious moment in the debate as Hillary Clinton listed other times he claimed something was “rigged” just because he wasn’t winning.
She noted there was even a time he chided the Emmy Awards for not recognizing his reality series “Celebrity Apprentice” three years in a row.
As Clinton was making that point, Trump began smiling and shrugging. He interjected, “Should have gotten it.”
The audience laughed a bit, as Clinton continued. “This is a mindset,” she said.
Clinton added that his comments about not necessarily accepting the election results are a dangerous departure from the nation’s democratic traditions.
10:19 p.m.
Hillary Clinton calls Donald Trump’s refusal to promise to accept results of the presidential election “horrifying.”
She said Trump has a history of calling things rigged, including the Republican primary, the court system handling a case against Trump University and the Emmys.
Clinton says the U.S. has a tradition of accepting election outcomes, and any general election candidate must be expected to do that.
10:15 p.m.
Donald Trump is again refusing to promise that he’d accept defeat on Nov. 8 if Americans choose Hillary Clinton as the 45th president.
The Republican nominee says he’ll “look at it at the time.” He was responding to moderator Chris Wallace’s specific questions about whether he would honor the American tradition of the presidential loser conceding to the president-elect.
When Wallace pressed him again, Trump responded again that he’d “keep you in suspense.”
Trump has argued that the national media is trying to rig the election. He is again stating without any evidence that “millions” of registered voters “shouldn’t be registered.”
And he suggests Clinton would be an illegitimate president because of her use of a private email server when secretary of state. He says she “never should have been allowed to run.”
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10:10 p.m.
Donald Trump is saying his foundation is a benefit to society.
Trump was responding to attacks from Hillary Clinton over his foundation spending money on a portrait of himself. He said it is a small, personal foundation that he donates to.
The Washington Post has reported that Trump hasn’t donated to his foundation for years. It also cited records showing Trump used foundation money to settle a legal dispute against his club, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump denied his foundation has done this.
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10:08 p.m.
Donald Trump says the Clinton Foundation is a “criminal enterprise” and is calling on Hillary Clinton to have the foundation return money it’s received from countries with repressive human rights regimes. There is no evidence the Clinton Foundation has broken any laws.
Trump also says the Clinton Foundation’s work in Haiti was a “disgrace.”
Clinton says she is “thrilled” to discuss the foundation’s work, and says it is a world-renowned charity that has helped millions of people. She also says there was no improper connection between the foundation’s donors and those awarded contracts to help rebuild Haiti after it suffered a devastating earthquake.
10:08 p.m.
Asked if he will accept result of presidential election, Donald Trump says, ‘I will look at it at the time’
10:03 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump “thinks belittling women makes him bigger.” And she’s accusing him of going after women’s “dignity” and “self-worth.”
Clinton is making the case against Trump’s treatment of women, saying, “I don’t think there’s a woman anywhere who doesn’t know what that feels like.”
Clinton’s comments come in response to allegations from several women that Trump groped or kissed them without consent. He’s denying the charges. But Clinton is noting that he brushed off the remarks by belittling several of the women’s appearances.
Trump is denying he suggested some of the women weren’t attractive enough to win his attention. But he said of one recently, “believe me, she would not be my first choice.”
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10 p.m.
Donald Trump says claims by women who say he groped them have been largely debunked, even though they have not.
Trump is also claiming in Wednesday’s debate that he thinks Hillary Clinton’s campaign is behind the women coming forward, even though there is no evidence of that, either. Trump says, “I believe she got these people to step forward.” He calls the women’s stories “lies and fiction.” He says, “I don’t know those people.”
Clinton says, “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger.” She says Trump attacks women’s dignity and self-worth and says: “That’s who Donald is. I think it’s up to us to demonstrate who we are.”
9:55 p.m.
Donald Trump is back to his usual bluster on the debate stage.
The GOP nominee had largely held his tongue during the first half-hour of Wednesday’s final debate, speaking only when called on and not interrupting.
But Trump appears to be sliding back to his usual bluster as he and Hillary Clinton discuss Russia and nuclear weapons.
“Wrong!” he declared at one point, interrupting Clinton.
Later, Clinton said she would “translate” Trump’s plan to reform the tax code.
Trump interjected, “You can’t.”
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9:54 p.m.
Donald Trump is making a misleading charge that Hillary Clinton will double “your taxes.”
Clinton’s tax plan would only raise taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent. Even then it would only add 4 percent to the top rate, not double it. She would require people making more than $1 million annually to pay at least 30 percent in federal taxes. She’d also limit some tax deductions.
So the only people whose taxes could be doubled are those making a large amount of money and paying very little in taxes.
Trump has proposed a large across-the-board tax cut. Analysts say he’d actually raise taxes on some single parents because of the structure of the plan.
9:48 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says she will grow the American economy by focusing on the middle class and building the largest job-creation program since World War II.
Asked to detail her economic strategy, Clinton says she wants to create new clean energy jobs that will also help the environment.
She pledges to raise the national minimum wage and declares that women should get “equal pay for the work we do,” meaning reducing the wage gap with their male counterparts.
Clinton also calls for more early education and technical training in high schools, and to reduce student debt — all of which will be difficult without major public spending increases.
9:42 p.m.
What is this that the presidential candidates have been talking about?
Oh, it’s policy!
So far in this third debate, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are debating their very different approaches to some of the country’s stickiest issues: gun rights, abortion and immigration.
That’s a striking turnabout from how the previous two debates have unfolded in their earliest moments. Last time the two met, in St. Louis, the debate moderators began by asking about the increasingly negative tone of the campaign, focusing on a 2005 video of Trump making predatory comments about women.
This time, right off the top in Las Vegas, it was all policy.
There are signs the issues focus may not last: Clinton and Trump have begun sniping at each other about ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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9:40 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump “choked” during a meeting with the Mexican president when he failed to bring up his own plan to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it.
Clinton says she voted for border security and believes the U.S. is a country of laws, but also a nation of immigrants.
She said she’s against ripping families apart, noting that there are an estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the country who have 4 million American-citizen children.
She is portraying Trump’s deportation plan as a logistical nightmare, saying it would force a “massive law enforcement presence” and require shipping people from the country in trains and buses.
She says she would push for an immigration reform plan within her first 100 days of office.
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9:37 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is accusing Donald Trump of employing immigrants in the country illegally.
The Democratic presidential nominee charges that her Republican opponent “exploit(ed) undocumented workers.”
Trump is not refuting the charge. He is repeating his promise to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally if elected. He notes that President Barack Obama has also deported millions of immigrants.
Trump hired a contracting firm that employed immigrants in the country to help build Trump Tower in New York. He settled a related court case out of court.
9:28 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is adamant that government should stay out of women’s health issues.
Clinton is pushing back forcefully in responding to Donald Trump’s criticism of Clinton’s support for women to be able to have late-term abortions.
“This is one of the worst possible choices that any woman and her family has to make, and I do not believe the government should be making it,” Clinton said.
Clinton notes that she has traveled to countries where governments have forced women to have abortions or to have children.
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9:27 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says she supports a woman’s right to undergo a late-term abortion, saying “the United States government shouldn’t be stepping in” on “the most-personal” of decisions.
Clinton says current federal law protects “partial-birth” abortion and she would keep it that way as president. She says she has met women undergoing the “heartbreaking” procedure for health reasons.
Donald Trump says, “I think it’s terrible.” He is likening partial-birth abortions to allowing women to “rip the baby out of the womb” in the ninth month or even on the last day of pregnancy.
9:25 p.m.
Donald Trump says he thinks Roe v. Wade will “automatically” be overturned if he is elected because he will appoint justices who oppose abortion rights.
Trump says he is against abortion rights but did not give a straight answer on whether he personally thinks the landmark abortion case should be overturned. He is saying he will appoint justices who would likely do so.
Trump says it would then be up to states to decide whether abortion should remain legal and what restrictions should be placed on it.
Hillary Clinton says she’ll strongly defend Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood.
9:15 p.m.
Donald Trump is opening the final presidential debate by promising to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will uphold Second Amendment gun rights, saying it is “under such trauma.”
The first question in Wednesday’s debate focused on what kind of justices Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton would appoint to the high court.
Trump says he would appoint judges who are “pro-life,” have a “conservative bent” and will protect gun ownership rights.
Trump says, “The Supreme Court is what it’s all about.” He says it’s “imperative that we have the right justices.”
Trump has released the name of 20 potential nominees to the Supreme Court and has emphasized the high number of potential appointments the next president may make.
Trump also says the Constitution should be interpreted “the way the founders wanted it.”
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9:10 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says she supports a Supreme Court that stands “on the side of the American people” and not the “powerful corporations and the wealthy.”
The Democrat’s comments were part of her first response in Wednesday night’s third and final debate.
The former secretary of state specifically said the nation’s high court should not reverse its decisions on abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Clinton said it should, however, reverse its Citizens United decision that allows “dark” money into politics.
She added that the Senate has a responsibility to act on a president’s Supreme Court pick.
9:05 p.m.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have kicked off their third and final debate without shaking hands, continuing a break from decorum that began at their last showdown in St. Louis.
The two stepped onto the stage in Las Vegas from opposite sides, each briefly waving to the audience before immediately moving behind their podiums.
The less-than-civil tone extended to the candidates’ families. They, too, entered separately, unlike at the previous two debates, and did not cross paths or shake hands.
At the second debate, Bill Clinton and Melania Trump greeted each other before taking their seats. But that night Trump’s campaign had tried to parade three women who’d accused Clinton of sexual misconduct past him — a plan the nonpartisan debate commission nixed just before it could be carried out.
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But before the showdown, Trump has issued an invitation to his Facebook page to join his team live at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Before the last debate, Trump appeared on the same platform with three women who have accused rival Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill Clinton, of sexual assault. The former president has denied the accusations. Trump then sat the women in the debate hall.
At Wednesday’s final debate, Trump was expected to bring a woman who has accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment, the mother of a man who was killed in the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi and President Barack Obama’s half-brother.
Clinton guests include CEO Mark Cuban, basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
For now, at least, Clinton has a significant lead in most polls. Trump’s team says he’s planning to be aggressive on the debate stage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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