After two debates filled with pointed rhetoric, intimidation tactics and surprise guests, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump met Wednesday night at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for their third and final face-off.
Clinton, whose lead in national polls has expanded in recent weeks, sought to protect her standing and further differentiate her policy proposals from those of her GOP rival, Trump.
As Trump attempted to make up ground, he utilized the presence of a few invited guests — Malik Obama, the half-brother of President Barack Obama; Leslie Millwee, who claimed she was groped by Bill Clinton in 1980; and “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell — to increase the pressure on Clinton.
Here are some of the most memorable lines from the third debate:
“I would hope that the senate would do its job and confirm the nominee that President Obama has sent to them.”
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News kicked off the debate with a question to the candidates about their plans for Supreme Court appointments. In her response, Clinton included criticism for the senate’s inaction on current nominee Merrick Garland. “I believe, if my opponent should win this race, which I truly don’t think will happen, we will have a Second Amendmentwhich will be a very, very small replica of what it is right now.”
Trump used his opportunity to speak about the Supreme Court to attack Clinton’s stance on gun control and providing a prediction for Election Day.
”I think it’s terrible, 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.”
As the discussion turned to abortion rights, Trump described the reasoning behind his pro-life stance.
”Well, that is not what happens in these cases. And using that kind of scare rhetoric is just terribly unfortunate.”
Clinton took issue with Trump’s portrayal of abortion.
”We have some bad hombres here and we’re going to get them out.”
Following an explanation of his immigration policies, with emphasis on the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump used the Spanish word for “men” to describe people he would have deported. ”You are very clearly quoting from WikiLeaks and what’s really important about WikiLeaks is that the Russian government has engaged in espionage against Americans.”
Wallace asked about Clinton’s border policies, quoting from leaked emails in which a transcript of a speech stated she was in favor of “a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders.”
”That was a great pivot off the fact that she wants open borders, OK?”
When Trump had the chance to speak, he reminded the audience about Wallace’s original question.
“[Russian President Vladimir Putin would] rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”
Clinton provided her theory as to why Russia could be behind the hacking of emails later released by WikiLeaks, implying that Putin wants Trump in power.
source: abc.go.com
Candidates shake moderator’s hand, but not each others’, following final presidential debate https://t.co/zknNNUKTov https://t.co/P7wYUHf3br
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 20, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump while @HillaryClinton answers question: “Such a nasty woman” https://t.co/zknNNUKTov #debates https://t.co/Ff3T9DrI0n
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 20, 2016
.@HillaryClinton says Trump has been criticizing US gov’t for decades: “I wonder when he thought America was great” https://t.co/L607gWyYIU
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 20, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump accuses @HillaryClinton campaign of being behind women bringing accusations against him. https://t.co/w09xnrHUNf
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 20, 2016
