Clinton says she’s prepared for debate ‘whoppers’ from Trump

Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off Monday night in the first of three debates. Here’s the latest:

Clinton says she’s prepared for ‘whoppers’ from Trump

Hillary Clinton said she was ready for Donald Trump to tell some whoppers in the first presidential debate.

The Democratic nominee is directing voters to her campaign website, HillaryClinton.com. It’s been converted into a real-time fact-checker intended to correct Trump’s misstatements.

She brought up the site when Trump was hammering her on taxes and regulations. He said he’s “going into cut taxes big league. You’re going to raise taxes big league. End of story.”

Clinton retorted that she “kind of assumed there would be a lot of these charges and claims.”

Clinton aides have said for days leading up to the debate they were worried that moderator Lester Holt would allow Trump to exaggerate and misstate facts.

Associated Press

Holt hangs back as candidates battle it out

Lester Holt is letting the presidential candidates play.

The moderator of first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is giving the candidates a wide berth to argue and talk over each other.

Holt was largely silent as Trump and Clinton argued heatedly back and forth for several minutes over a variety of issues.

In one lengthy exchange over international trade, Holt was silent while Trump and Clinton repeatedly spoke over each other with voices raised.

The NBC News veteran, who is moderating his first debate, is being closely watched, particularly in light of a dispute over the extent to which he should call politicians out for making untrue statements.

Associated Press

Trump blames Clinton for ‘defective’ trade deals

Donald Trump blamed Hillary Clinton for what he said have been “defective” trade agreements that have cost American jobs.

Trump said Mexico taxes American products imported there, but the U.S. does not tax Mexican imports.

He said Clinton’s been “doing this for 30 years,” a reference to her long career on the American political scene.

During that time, she’s been first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state. Those are not jobs that would give her a primary role in crafting trade agreements.

Trump also criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was approved under President Bill Clinton, Mrs. Clinton’s husband.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has said that 1994 deal had a “relatively small” impact on the U.S. economy.

Associated Press

Trump falsely denies earlier comments on climate change

Donald Trump claims he never said climate change was a “hoax” created by the Chinese.

But he did.

Trump tweeted in January 2014 that, “Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!”

In November, 2012, he said, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton made the charge during Monday night.

Trump is a denier of climate science.

Associated Press

Trump’s sniffling attracts attention on social media

Donald Trump has the sniffles.

Trump’s loud sniffing in the opening minutes of Monday’s first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton is getting plenty of attention on social media. Some are comparing it to Al Gore’s sighing from the 2000 presidential debate. The noticeable sniffing, or loud breathing, is generating hashtags like (hash)trumpsniff on Twitter.

Much attention has been focused on both candidates’ health going into the debate following Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis last month. Both candidates have since released details about their health history.

Associated Press

Clinton criticizes Trump for loan from his father

Hillary Clinton criticized Donald Trump early in the presidential debate over a loan he got from his father to start his business career. The Democratic presidential candidate called her Republican rival’s tax cut proposals “Trumped-up trickle-down” economics.

Clinton said Trump “really believes the more you help wealthy people, the better off we'll be.” She also referenced a million-dollar loan Trump got from his father decades ago.

Clinton criticized her opponent’s aggressive stance on trade, saying the U.S. is “5 percent of the world population” and that means having to trade with the other 95 percent of the world.

Associated Press

Trump touts plans to create jobs, claims Mexico ‘stealing them’

Donald Trump kicked off the debate touting his plan to create jobs and claiming that Mexico and other countries are “stealing them.”

Trump said, “Our jobs are fleeing the country, they’re going to Mexico and many other countries.”

He said, “We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us” and is claiming that Mexico’s factory building is like “the 8th wonder of the world.”

He called for renegotiating U.S. trade deals and says job creation will flourish under a Trump administration because of his plans to lower taxes and scale back regulations.

Associated Press

Yes, debate moderator Lester Holt is nervous

If you’re wondering whether NBC News anchor Lester Holt was nervous before moderating the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the answer is yes. Holt took the stage at Hofstra University Monday night before the candidates joined him and promptly acknowledged some jitters as he addressed the crowd.

“That thud you heard backstage was the sound of my knees buckling when Frank (Fahrenkopf, co-president of the Commission on Presidential Debates) mentioned a potential audience of 100 million,” Holt said. “But it’s just us tonight, and in a moment it’ll just be the three of us – and hopefully just the two of them. That’s what it’s all about.”

The last part of Holt’s comment reinforced the widely-held notion that he will act mostly as a facilitator and not inject himself into the proceedings as a real-time fact-checker.

The Washington Post

Clinton fields first question in presidential debate

Hillary Clinton fielded the first debate question from moderator Lester Holt, who asked about her plan to create better jobs for American workers.

Clinton, the first woman to participate in a general election debate, first noted that it was her granddaughter Charlotte’s second birthday and launched into her standard campaign promise to fight for fair pay for female workers and to increase taxes on the wealthy.

Associated Press

Protesters gather outside debate hall

Police on Long Island say about 2,000 protesters have gathered outside the scene of the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Some of the diverse groups protesting Monday night’s showdown at Hofstra University include Hardhats for Hillary, socialists and activists calling for a living wage. The protesters have been confined to an area several blocks long.

Nassau County police say 24 people have been arrested on mostly disorderly conduct charges. Police gave no other details on the arrests.

Associated Press

Clinton, Trump arrive for first presidential debate

The presidential candidates have arrived at Hofstra University in New York and are moments away from their first face-to-face debate.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump each entered the debate hall on suburban Long Island within the hour of the debate’s start.

The stakes are high. Clinton and Trump are close in the polls and the debate kicks off the final, six-week sprint of the general election. The two candidates are slated to square off for two more debates next month, while their running mates, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, are set to meet next week.

The debate will be moderated by Lester Holt of NBC News.

Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Chuck Schumer, Don King, Bobby Knight and Mark Cuban are among the invited guests in the audience.

Associated Press

Clinton’s name misspelled on presidential debate ticket

Months of preparation went into the first presidential debate, which was expected to be watched by millions of people, but members of the audience arrived Monday night to find at least one major detail that went awry: the spelling of Hillary Clinton’s name.

Clinton’s name was misspelled (“Hilary” instead of “Hillary”) on commemorative tickets given to the audience at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The mistake was reported by Sirius XM Politics, which shared a picture of a ticket on Twitter. Donald Trump’s name was spelled correctly.

A spokesman for the Commission on Presidential Debates said the mistake happened only on commemorative tickets and not on official ones. Mark Cuban, a guest of the Clinton campaign, posted a picture of his ticket – which does not include either candidate’s name – on Instagram. The spokesman declined to say who produced the commemorative tickets.

The New York Times

Green Party nominee Jill Stein removed from campus

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was escorted by police off the Hofstra University campus Monday, hours before the school was to host the debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

Stein was “nicely escorted” from campus after authorities found that she did not have proper media credentials, a Nassau County police spokesman told ABC News.

Stein did not register enough support in national polls to participate in the debate.

Los Angeles Times

Debate not a priority at White House

The first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be little more than background noise to President Barack Obama.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Obama will be “working tonight” when the debate airs. He said the television will be on in the background.

Earnest said the only deviation from business as usual is that the TV will be tuned to the debate instead of to Monday Night Football.

Earnest said Obama wants Clinton in the debate to speak about her record in a way that provides insight into her motivations to be president.

Associated Press

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Clinton says she’s prepared for debate ‘whoppers’ from Trump."