Trump, Clinton Face Off In Final Presidential Debate Before Voters Cast Ballots
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) – Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton returned to the debate stage Wednesday night for the final time before voters cast their ballots on November 8.
The candidates took their places, without shaking hands, and quickly addressed questions about the Supreme Court and the Constitution, the second amendment and abortion, as well as immigration.
"I feel strongly that the Supreme Court needs to stand on the side of the American people, not on the side of the powerful corporations and the wealthy," Clinton said. "For me, that means that we need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women's rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community, and will stand up and say no to Citizens United."
"We need a Supreme Court that, in my opinion, is going to uphold the second amendment, and all amendments, but the second amendment, which is under absolute siege. I believe if my opponent should win this race, which I truly don't think will happen, we will have a second amendment, which will be a very small replica of what it is right now," Trump said.
The Republican candidate took a pro-life stance, using some graphic language to condemn late-term abortions.
"If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby," Trump said.
"Using that kind of scare rhetoric is just terribly unfortunate," Clinton said. "I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions," Clinton said.
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On the topic of immigration, Trump reiterated his calls for a "strong border" and a wall to keep criminals and drugs out of the country.
"We have some bad hombres here, and we're going to get them out," he said.
Clinton responded, saying that she has put forth a comprehensive immigration reform plan, which does call for the deportation of violent criminals, but also includes a path to citizenship.
"I don't want to rip families apart, I don't want to send parents away from children, I don't want to see the deportation force that Donald has talked about in action in our country," she said.
Clinton refuted Trump's claim that her plan calls for open borders.
Moderator Chris Wallance pressed her, quoting an email from the Clinton camp that was recently released by WikiLeaks, "In a speech you gave to a Brazilian bank, for which you were paid $225,000, we've learned from the WikiLeaks that you said this, and I want to quote, 'My dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders."
"Is that your dream -- open borders?" Wallace asked.
Clinton said she was referring to energy in that speech.
"We trade more energy with our neighbors than we trade with the rest of the world combined. And I do want us to have an electric grid, an energy system that crossed borders. I think that would be a great benefit to us," she said.
The Democratic candidate continued on the topic of WikiLeaks, saying the real issue is Russia committing espionage against the American people in order to influence the election. Something she said Trump has supported.
"We've never had anything like this happen in any of our elections before," she said.
Trump said Clinton has "no idea" where the cyber attacks came from. But when asked if he condemns any interference in the election, he said "of course."
The candidates moved on to Russian relations and nuclear weapons, which drew some heated discussion.
"Putin, from everything I see, has no respect for this person," Trump said.
"Well that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the U.S.," Clinton responded.
"No puppet. You're the puppet," Trump said.
Next they addressed the economy and jobs, before the topic of Trump's comments about women resurfaced.
Over the past week, the Republican candidate has been accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward several women. He called those claims "lies" and "fiction."
"I believe, Chris, that she got these people to step forward. If it wasn't, they get their 10 minutes of fame," he said.
From there, they discussed the Clinton Foundation and Trump's claims that the election is rigged.
He pointed to the "corrupt media" and the people who are illegally registered to vote, but said his main point is that Clinton is a criminal and should never have been allowed to run for president.
When asked whether he will accept the results of the election, he said "I will look at it at the time, I'm not looking at anything now. I'll look at it at the time, I will tell you at the time, I will keep you in suspense."
"He is denigrating, he is talking down our democracy, and I for one am appalled," Clinton said.
Trump's evasive answer about accepting the outcome showed his continued willingness to buck his own party, CBS2's Tony Aiello reported. His own running mate is saying of course they'll accept the outcome.
After the debate, the candidates shook hands with the moderator but not with each other, which didn't come as a surprise after Trump called Clinton a "nasty woman" and she called him a "proven liar."
