Trump, Clinton square off in final debate in Las Vegas


LAS VEGAS (AP) — 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.

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.

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.”

Clinton calls the response about the recession “horrifying.”

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.

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.

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.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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