Trump refuses to commit to accepting 2016 results

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Published Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 | 4 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 | 9 p.m.

The smart money on Wednesday’s matchup between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was for a 12-round, no-holds-barred bout worthy of this city’s prizefights.

But moderator Chris Wallace wanted a debate. And for the most part, he got one.

Trump, under pressure to halt Clinton’s steady rise in opinion polls, came across as repeatedly frustrated as he tried to rally conservative voters with hard-line stands on illegal immigration and abortion rights. But he kept finding himself drawn onto perilous political territory by Clinton and Wallace.

The businessman entered the final debate facing a string of sexual assault accusations from women who came forward after he denied in the previous contest that he had kissed or groped women without their consent. That Trump denial followed the release of a video of in which he's heard bragging about exactly that.

Trump denied the accusations anew Wednesday night, saying the women coming forward "either want fame or her campaign did it." He falsely said the women's allegations had been debunked.

The 90-minute contest in Las Vegas came just under three weeks before Election Day and with early voting underway in more than 30 states.

See below for highlights of the debate from the Sun's live coverage.

8:15 p.m.

The Republican National Committee will accept the results of the general election even if Donald Trump doesn't.

That's according to RNC spokesman Sean Spicer. He says, "We're going to respect the will of the people."

The answer was in response to Trump's refusal during the debate to say whether he would concede if he loses the general election. He said, "I'll keep you in suspense."

He has been railing against the U.S. election system as "rigged" for weeks.

Spicer addressed Trump's explosive comment after the debate. He says it likely won't be an issue because Trump will win.

When pressed, Spicer said, "I cannot speak for what he thinks."

8:10 p.m.

Republican senators are saying Donald Trump should accept the results of the presidential election.

The statements came after Trump refused to promise he'd accept defeat on Nov. 8 if Americans choose Hillary Clinton as president.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says "Mr. Trump is doing the party and the country a great disservice" by suggesting the election is rigged.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arixona says Trump's statements are "beyond the pale."

Both senators have long been critical of Trump.

7:45 p.m.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton began the last debate without a handshake — and they ended it without one too.

After both candidates' final answers, Hillary Clinton stepped forward and shook hands with moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. Trump stayed behind his podium and watched, as Clinton then stood on stage and waved to people in the audience.

Trump didn't leave the podium until Clinton was too far away for a handshake, stepping off the stage and into the crowd.

7:42 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says she's reaching out to all Americans: Republicans, Democrats and independents.

The Democratic presidential nominee made the declaration as part of her closing statement.

She says she has made children and families her "life's work" and adds, "That's what my mission will be in the presidency."

She is promising to "stand up for families against corporations."

7:41 p.m.

Donald Trump is painting a dire picture of America as he makes his closing pitch to voters.

Trump says the military is "depleted," veterans aren't taken care of and inner cities are a "disaster."

He says people living in inner cities get "shot walking to the grocery store" and have "no education" and "no jobs."

Trump asserts he is much better poised to fix the problems than Hillary Clinton.

7:35 p.m.

Moderator Chris Wallace criticized both Clinton and Trump for their proposed economic plans’ impact on the national debt. Wallace said Clinton’s plan would increase the national debt from its current value of 77 percent of GDP to 86 percent of GDP over the next 10 years, while Trump’s plan would increase national debt to 105 percent of GDP.

Trump said by creating jobs and increasing economic growth, he’d reduce that percentage. He said he would start by cutting entitlements, like the “wasteful” Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

“I’m cutting taxes, repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare,” Trump said. “It’s destroying our nation’s businesses.”

Clinton said she wouldn’t “add a penny” to the national debt, and that everything she’s proposing would be paid for. Clinton said a growing middle class and greater contribution from wealthy Americans and corporations would make the economy fairer.

“I think that’s the smartest way to grow the economy — to build it from the middle class out,” Clinton said.

Clinton left her podium to shake hands with Wallace first, as Trump stayed put as his lectern. The crowd laughed briefly before Clinton stepped off stage and Trump walked over to shake Wallace’s hand.

7:30 p.m.

Clinton and Trump clashed over foreign hot spots, arguing about the ISIS stronghold of Mosul in Iraq.

Clinton said taking back Mosul would provide a gateway to winning back Raqqa in Syria, too. She said Syria will “remain a hotspot of terrorism,” if those cities are not won back.

Trump agreed, but criticized Clinton and the Democrats for failing to capture the city already.

He argued that a lack of secrecy by the U.S. government has allowed ISIS leaders in Mosul to escape, because the U.S. is making its intentions to enter the city public.

“Whatever happened to the element of surprise?” Trump asked. “Our country is so outplayed by Putin and Assad and Iran, nobody can believe how stupid our country is.”

7:26 p.m.

Donald Trump is once again denying that he supported the invasion of Iraq.

Trump said "Wrong" in Wednesday's final presidential debate when Hillary Clinton said he supported the invasion in 2002.

Trump actually offered lukewarm support for invading Iraq before the war began. He's repeatedly and erroneously claimed to have come out against the war before it started, telling Howard Stern in September 2002: "Yeah I guess so," when asked if he would back an invasion.

Clinton says in the debate that anyone questioning what Trump's position was could simply google it and find "dozens of sources" showing he was for it.

Clinton says, "He has not told the truth on that position."

7:25 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says she's "encouraged" by the Iraqi-led offensive to retake the city of Mosul.

Donald Trump says it's only an issue because the Obama administration — and Clinton while at the State Department — pulled troops from Iraq in the first place.

Clinton outlined her military plan to take out the Islamic State group. She said coalition forces should push the fight into the group's Syrian headquarters after Mosul is retaken. She also called for an "intelligence surge" online and on the ground focused on the Islamic State.

Trump is not detailing his plan. He says, "What ever happened to the element of surprise?"

7:20 p.m.

Every seat at the Inspire Theatre, which is showing the debate in downtown Las Vegas, appears taken. And the bartender is busy doling out debate-inspired drinks with names like "The Hilla-Rita" and the "Trump-Tini." Both are $8.

The crowd is mostly quiet, glued to the screen in front of them. Laughs and applause rang out when Clinton accused Trump of once saying the Emmy Awards were rigged.

Outside, the normal downtown chatter and traffic noise fill the nighttime air.

7:07 p.m.

Wallace stressed the historical importance of a “peaceful transition of power” after the election — regardless of how hard-fought the battle was — and asked Trump whether he would accept the outcome of the election, no matter how it turns out.

Trump, who has been talking about the potential for a “rigged” election in recent days, declined to do so.

“I will tell you at the time,” Trump said. “I will keep you in suspense.”

Clinton called Trump’s answer “horrifying,” saying the country has “accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them.”

7:05 p.m.

Trump was pressed to answer why so many women would have come forward over the last week to share made-up stories of being sexually assaulted by the Republican presidential candidate.

“It was fiction,” Trump said. “It was lies, and it was fiction.”

Trump suggested the women were either seeking fame or were put forward by Clinton’s campaign to make up the accusations.

Clinton fired back, noting Trump’s defense that he wouldn’t have been attracted to some of the women.

“In fact, he went to say, ‘Look at her, I don’t think so.’ About another woman he said, ‘That wouldn’t be my first choice,’” Clinton said.

She added that Trump “thinks belittling women makes him bigger.”

7:04 p.m.

Wallace pressed Clinton to answer whether she had kept her pledge to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest between the operation of the Clinton Foundation and her position as secretary of state.

“Everything I did as secretary of state was in furtherance of our country’s interest and values,” Clinton said, before attempting to pivot to talking about how the foundation is a “world-renowned charity.”

Trump called on Clinton to “give back the money” that the foundation has “taken from certain countries that treat certain groups of people so horribly.”

Clinton fired back, saying the foundation has high ratings from watchdog organizations.

7 p.m.

Trump and Clinton defended their stances on the economy, with Trump blaming a slow GDP growth under the Obama administration on Democratic policy and Clinton focusing on growing the middle class.

The United States thrives when the middle class thrives, Clinton said. She said she plans to unveil the country’s largest job-growth program since World War II, focusing on jobs in manufacturing, new jobs in clean energy to fight climate change and boosting small businesses.

Clinton also said a strong education system with a greater focus on vocational and technical education in high schools and community colleges would help lead the next generation of workers.

Finally, the Democratic candidate said she’d provide free public college tuition for households making less than $125,000 per year, increase taxes on households making more than $250,000 and make corporations pay “a little extra.”

“We’re going to work hard to go where the money is,” Clinton said. “The plan we have will produce greater opportunities.”

Trump countered, saying Clinton’s plan will double taxes for American families and that the public would be paying for Clinton’s free proposed tuition.

Trump said he’d renegotiate NAFTA to make sure the United States is getting a “fair deal” and get rid of the trade deal altogether if a fair deal couldn’t be reached.

Trump pointed at a 1 percent growth in the United States’ GDP, the country’s slowest growth rate since 1949, according to moderator Chris Wallace. Trump blamed Obama stimulus dollars in 2009 for the slow growth.

“We’ve lost our jobs, we’ve lost our businesses,” Trump said. “It is just horrible what has happened to these people in these communities.”

6:55 p.m.

Donald Trump is back to his usual bluster on the debate stage.

The GOP nominee had largely held his tongue during the first half-hour of Wednesday's final debate, speaking only when called on and not interrupting.

But Trump appears to be sliding back to his usual bluster as he and Hillary Clinton discuss Russia and nuclear weapons.

"Wrong!" he declared at one point, interrupting Clinton.

Later, Clinton said she would "translate" Trump's plan to reform the tax code.

Trump interjected, "You can't."

6:54 p.m.

Donald Trump is making a misleading charge that Hillary Clinton will double "your taxes."

Clinton's tax plan would only raise taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent. Even then it would only add 4 percent to the top rate, not double it. She would require people making more than $1 million annually to pay at least 30 percent in federal taxes. She'd also limit some tax deductions.

So the only people whose taxes could be doubled are those making a large amount of money and paying very little in taxes.

Trump has proposed a large across-the-board tax cut. Analysts say he'd actually raise taxes on some single parents because of the structure of the plan.

6:35 p.m.

Amid a discussion of Russian President Vladimir Putin and whether the Russian government has interfered in U.S. elections, Clinton and Trump called each other “puppets.”

“He’d rather have a puppet” as president, Clinton said of Putin.

“No, you’re the puppet,” Trump shot back, interrupting Clinton.

Clinton glossed over some of the content of internal emails from campaign officials released in a recent WikiLeaks dump by redirecting the subject to concerns over Russian espionage.

“What’s important about WikiLeaks is that the Russian government has engaged in espionage about Americans,” Clinton said. “They’ve hacked American websites, American accounts.”

She called on Trump to “admit and condemn” that the Russians are engaging in espionage and to reject such actions.

Trump suggested that Clinton doesn’t like Putin because he has “outsmarted her at every step of the way” in foreign policy.

Trump did say that he condemns any type of foreign interference in the U.S. elections, adding that he doesn’t know Putin. “This is not my best friend,” Trump said.

6:24 p.m.

Eleven-year-old Karla Ortiz of Nevada got a shout-out from Clinton during an answer on immigration. Ortiz, one of Clinton’s guests tonight, is the daughter of undocumented immigrants and shared her story with Clinton earlier this year.

Karla was “very worried her parents might be deported because she was born in this country, but they were not,” Clinton said of her first meeting with Ortiz.

Clinton noted that her comprehensive immigration reform plan “of course” includes border security, but noted that more must be done.

Trump, meanwhile, said Clinton wants to give immigrants in the U.S. without authorization “amnesty — which is a disaster.” He noted that four of his guests in the audience are mothers whose children were killed by immigrants in the country illegally.

“We have some bad hombres here, and we’re going to get them out,” Trump said, using the Spanish word for “men.”

He also noted the importance of closing the border to shut off the heroin drug trade across the southern border. He said heroin is “poisoning the blood of our youth and plenty of other people.”

6:10 p.m.

As the sun sets in Las Vegas and the candidates begin fielding questions, helicopters whir over the resort corridor. Meanwhile, traffic is flowing again on Interstate 15.

6:10 p.m.

The debate kicked off with a question from moderator Chris Wallace about the candidates’ vision for the Supreme Court.

Each painted a vastly different picture of the priorities they hope the Court would have.

Clinton stressed the importance of the court standing up for women’s rights, protecting the LGBT community and overturning Citizens United. Trump, meanwhile, said the justices he will appoint will be pro-life, have a “conservative bent” and protect the Second Amendment.

Trump also took a shot at Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg for making critical remarks about him earlier this summer. “Justice Ginsberg made some very, very inappropriate statements towards me and a tremendous number of people, millions and millions of people that I represent,” Trump said. (Ginsberg later apologized for the remarks.)

When asked if he wants to see the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, Trump said that would happen automatically, because “I am putting pro-life justices on my court.”

Clinton said she supports Roe v. Wade, citing a woman’s right to make important decisions about her health care. “We’ve come too far to have that turned back now,” Clinton said. “(Trump) thinks women should be punished, and I could not be more opposed to that type of thinking.”

“This is one of the worst possible choices that any woman and her family have to make,” Clinton said. “And the government has no business in the decisions that women make with their families, in accordance with their faith.”

6:03 p.m.

Moderator Chris Wallace welcomes Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump to the debate stage.

Clinton, wearing an all-white suit, and Trump, wearing a blue blazer with a white shirt and red tie, walk directly to their respective podiums. They don’t meet in the center of the stage, putting to rest any rumors of a handshake.

5:50 p.m.

Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, announces the six topics for the debate: National debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and fitness to be president.

5:38 p.m.

Nevada politicians, candidates and other community figures have been spied taking their seats in the debate hall. They include Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his wife, Landra; Democratic congressional candidate Jacky Rosen; Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and her husband, Oscar Goodman; and Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak.

5:35 p.m.

In the spin room, Trump senior adviser Boris Epshteyn deflected questions about the Republican presidential nominee’s choice of guests for tonight’s debate, which include Pat Smith, the mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Benghazi and Malik Obama, the estranged half-brother of President Barack Obama.

“I would ask the same question about having Mark Cuban,” Epshteyn said of the Dallas Mavericks owner and Trump detractor, who will be a guest of Hillary Clinton.

Asked about whether Trump would shake Clinton’s hand before the debate, Epshteyn was noncommittal. “Whatever the cordial move is, Mr. Trump will do it,” he said.

5:02 p.m.

Former Defense Intelligence Agency Director and Trump supporter retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn told reporters in the debate hall spin room that the United States needs more honest, straightforward military leadership from the presidency.

“Let’s shoot for objectives we can achieve, not unrealistic, lofty objectives,” ” Flynn said.

Ambiguous foreign policy and a lack of long-term direction in war zones in the Middle East have hampered American generals, Flynn said, leading to a less effective military impact.

“I don’t want people to lead me down a primrose path when I know there are a bunch of thorns down that path,” Flynn said.

4:45 p.m.

Ivanka Trump says her father will honor the results of the election and if they show that he's lost the presidential race he will concede to Hillary Clinton.

Trump's eldest daughter said Wednesday at Fortune's Magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit that her "father will always do the right thing."

Donald Trump, set to debate Clinton in Las Vegas Wednesday night, has repeatedly claimed that the election is "rigged" and has made unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.

At the first of three presidential debates, Trump said he would honor the election result. But he has since waffled on that stance.

Ivanka Trump suggested that the media was biased against her father's campaign.

4:35 p.m.

Donald Trump's guest list for the third and final debate now includes Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and a woman who has accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

The GOP nominee's campaign confirms that the former vice presidential candidate will be in the audience. Also in attendance will be Leslie Millwee, a former Arkansas local reporter who claimed in an interview this week with Breitbart News that she was sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton three times in the 1980s.

Also attending is the mother of a man who was killed in the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi and President Barack Obama's half-brother.

•••

It’s showtime in Las Vegas: Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump take the stage tonight for their third and final presidential debate.

Against the backdrop of UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, Clinton and Trump have one more chance to highlight their differences as they begin making their closing arguments to voters across the nation. They are expected to address everything from immigration to their fitness to serve as president.

Today is also the finale to more than a year’s worth of preparations for the event by UNLV, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Southern Nevada as a whole.

It is the first presidential debate Nevada has hosted and the biggest event for UNLV since the school’s NCAA Tournament run, when the Runnin’ Rebels basketball team won the national championship in 1990.

An enthusiastic crowd gathered on the UNLV campus, surrounding the makeshift CNN and MSNBC studios.

At the outdoor CNN studio, the UNLV marching band provided the live show’s music while cheerleaders performed. People hoisted Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump signs, while some joined in anti-Clinton chants such as “lock her up” and “Benghazi.”

Metro and UNLV police had a strong foot-patrol presence throughout the campus.

Las Vegas Sun reporters Megan Messerly, Jackie Valley, Chris Kudialis, Ian Whitaker and Ricardo Torres-Cortez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.