Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump went head-to-head in the final presidential debate on Wednesday sparring over various issues including gun control, immigration and Russia.
Without a hand shake or a smile, the two candidates took the stage at here at University of Nevada’s Thomas and Mack Centre, CNN reported.
Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News started the 90-minute debate with the topic Supreme Court and the first was “Where do you want to see the court take the country and secondly what’s your view on how the Constitution should be interpreted?”
The first reply came from Clinton where she said: “When we talk about the Supreme Court, it really raises the central issue in this election, namely what kind of country are we going to be?”
“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 wealthy… We need a Supreme Court that stands up on behalf of women’s rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community,” the former Secretary of State added.
She also talked about abortion, gay marriage and money in politics.
Trump, in response said, “The Supreme Court is what it’s all about”.
“The justices that I am going to appoint will interpret the constitution the way the founders wanted it and I believe that’s very, very important.”
The real-estate magnate raised the Second Amendment (protects the rights of people to keep and bear arms), hitting Clinton for being anti-gun.
Clinton insisted that she did not want to take away everyone’s guns, but said she wass in favour of sensible gun control.
“I support the second amendment…But I also believe that there can be and must be reasonable regulation,” she added.
Regarding immigration, Trump reiterated his stance to build the wall along the Mexican border.
“We all want the wall…We have to have strong borders. We have to keep drugs out of the country.”
“She wants to have open borders,” he accused Clinton.
“We have some bad ‘hombres’ here, and we’re going to get them out,” he adds, dropping a little Spanish.
Clinton condemned Trump’s “deportation force”, which she described as impractical and “an idea that is not in keeping with who we are as a nation”.
The former First Lady said Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted Trump be elected because he wants a “puppet” as US president.
‘You’re the puppet!’ Trump snapped back.
He said Putin had “outsmarted” and “outplayed” Clinton at every turn.
Clinton also said that she was “encouraged” by the special forces helping Iraqi troops but will not support putting troops on the ground, adding that it’s not in US interests.
“We need to keep our eye on IS (Islamic State),” said Clinton, also calling for an “intelligence surge” to prevent homegrown terrorism.
The candidates are debating on six topics: national debt and health and social benefits, immigration, economy, the Supreme Court, foreign flashpoints and their fitness to be president.
This debate comes 20 days before the November 8 election.
