Clinton, Trump Clash In 1st Presidential Debate
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The suspense has been building for weeks. Donald Trump, the unpredictable outsider. Hillary Clinton, the first woman to lead a national ticket.
Sparks flew from the beginning, then exploded into flames.
Clinton accused Trump of having "something to hide" because he won't release his tax returns.
Trump turned the tables, linking it to Clinton's controversial emails.
"I will release my tax returns, against my lawyer's wishes, when she releases her 33,000 emails that have been deleted," Trump said.
"I made a mistake using a private email," Clinton said. "If I had to do it over again I would obviously do it differently, but I'm not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake and I take responsibility for that."
The debate had an edge to it, as the candidates were free to question and challenge and interrupt each other.
As expected, some of the most controversial personal issues came up, including a question about Trump suddenly dropping his claim that President Obama may not have been born in the United States.
"I think I did a great job and a great service, not only for the country, but even for the president in getting him to produce his birth certificate," Trump said.
"Well, just listen to what you heard," Clinton said. "He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen."
For much of the debate, Clinton tried to appear restrained and expressionless, and Trump flashed a series of grimaces, grins and head shakes.
The debate touched on much of what has happened in this campaign, but it got very personal when Trump was asked about his comments about Clinton's looks.
It was a cringeworthy moment. Trump has been under fire for some of his comments about women. He defended a comment saying Hillary Clinton doesn't have "the look" of an American president.
Trump said during this exchange he was prepared to release something very ugly about Hillary and Bill Clinton and their family, but decided not to do it because it was too ugly even for him.
