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Live From The Third and |Final Presidential Debate

(CN) - Courthouse News reporter Mike Heuer is reporting live from the third and final presidential candidate debate at the University of Las Vegas campus. As the often rancorous campaign approaches its final act, on Nov. 8, Wednesday night's debate appears to be Republican Donald Trump's last chance to salvage his campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton, who is surging in the latest polls.

10:26 p.m.

(AP) - Donald Trump once again denied 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.

In reality, Trump 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 said 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 said," He has not told the truth on that position."

10:18 p.m.

(AP) - Donald Trump characterized the Clinton Foundation is a "criminal enterprise" and called on Hillary Clinton to have the foundation return money it's received from countries with repressive human rights regimes.

There is no evidence the Clinton Foundation has broken any laws.

In contrast, Trump said his foundation is a benefit to society.

Trump was responding to attacks from Hillary Clinton over his foundation spending money on a portrait of himself. He said it is a small, personal foundation that he donates to.

The Washington Post has reported that Trump hasn't donated to his foundation for years. It also cited records showing Trump used foundation money to settle a legal dispute against his club, Mar-a-Lago.

Trump denied his foundation has done this.

10:12 p.m.

(CN) - Trump refused, even when pressed by moderator Chris Wallace, to say he will accept the will of the people if he loses the election on November 8. "I will look at it and decide at the time," he said. "I will 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."

Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump's refusal to promise to accept results of the presidential election "horrifying."

She said Trump has a history of calling things rigged, including the Republican primary, the court system handling a case against Trump University and the Emmys.

Clinton says the U.S. has a tradition of accepting election outcomes, and any general election candidate must be expected to do that.

10:00 p.m.

(CN) - Why would so many women from so many circumstances over so many years make up these stories that you sexually assaulted them? That was the question from Chris Wallace.

Trump claimed the stories had been largely debunked and that they were "totally false."

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"I think these women want either fame or her campaign did it, and I think her campaign did it," he said.

Clinton accused him of saying the assaults couldn't have happened because they weren't good-looking enough.

"I did not say that," Trump said.

"We now know what Donald says and what he thinks and how he acts toward women," Clinton said. "We need to stand up as a country and say we don't want people pitted against each other, but our diversity is our strength."

"Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody," Trump said.

He again accused the Clinton's "sleazy" campaign of being behind the stories. He then changed the subject to lambast Clinton over her use of a private email server while secretary of state and missing emails.

Clinton responded by saying when Trump is pushed on a topic that makes him uncomfortable, he changes the subject and never apologizes.

9:56 p.m.

(CN) -Donald Trump claims falsely that Hillary Clinton's economic plan will double Americans taxes.

In fact, Clinton's tax plan calls only for raising taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent.

Even then the Clinton plan 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.

Trump has proposed a large across-the-board tax cut, but several economists said the plan will actually raise taxes on some single parents because of the structure of the plan.

Clinton said her philosophy is to "invest from the middle out and the ground up, not the top down."

Trump came back and said his plan to boost the economy is to make the United States' rich allies pay more for military support and to renegotiate trade deals. Trump also says he would cut taxes "massively."

He then went on to name a number of allies he says could afford to pay the U.S. for its spending on defense.

"Saudi Arabia, nothing but money. We protect Saudi Arabia, why aren't they paying?" Trump said.

9:53 p.m.

"The problem is you talk, but you don't get anything done, Hillary," Donald Trump said.

9:40 p.m.

(AP) - In a combative exchange in the final presidential debate, Clinton charged that Russian President Vladimir Putin was backing Trump because "he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States."

Trump denied any relationship with Putin and said he would condemn any foreign interference in the election. But he notably refused to accept the intelligence community's assessment that Russia was involved in the hacking of Democratic organizations. The Clinton campaign has also said the FBI is investigating Russia's involvement in the hacking of a top adviser's emails.

9:35 p.m.

(CN) - Hillary Clinton said Donald Trump "choked" during a much-publicized meeting with the Mexican president last summer when he failed to bring up his own plan to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it.

Clinton saidshe voted for border security and believes the U.S. is a country of laws, but she also believes the United States is a nation of immigrants.

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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 said Trump's deportation plan would be a logistical nightmare, require a "massive law enforcement presence" while the U.S. forced people onto buses and trains to be removed from the country.

9:30 p.m.

(CN) - The two candidates went on to clash over immigration.

Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of employing illegal immigrants to build Trump Tower in New York, and of routinely exploiting "undocumented workers."

Trump did not respond directly, but instead repeated his promise to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally if elected.

He also claimed President Barack Obama has deported millions of immigrants during his eight years in office "but nobody reports on it.

Trumped also reaffirmed he would build a wall on the Mexican border and deport "some bad, bad people in this country," then figure out who could be readmitted.

He blames some "bad hombres here" for drug epidemics around the country, and he promises "we're going to get 'em out."

Along the way, Trump misrepresented Clinton's immigration policy, saying she supports "open borders" and "amnesty" for people already here illegally.

9:15 p.m.

(CN) - Debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News opened the evening with the question on where the candidates want to see the Supreme Court take the country and how they believe the Constitution should be interpreted.

Democrat Hillary Clinton said the question raised the central issue of the campaign, which she said is "what kind of country will be? What kinds of rights will the people have?"

Clinton said the Supreme Court should stand by the people and "not the corporations." She said it should stand up in behalf of women and the LGBT community, and that it should "say no to Citizens United ... which has undermined elections in our country."

She went on to say she wants a Supreme Court that will not "reverse marriage equality and will not reverse Roe v. Wade."

"The Supreme Court should stand by the people, not the kind of corporations, and the kinds of people I would look to nominate would stand up for our rights as Americans."

When his turn to answer came, Republican Donald Trump said, "the court is what it is all about."

"It is so imperative that we have the right justices," he continued, saying "we need justices that will uphold the Second Amendment, which is under absolute siege. The justices I appoint will be pro-life, will be conservative, and will interpret the Constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted."

The two were given the next 8 minutes to expand on their comments. Each staked out their respective on the Second Amendment and guns.

Clinton said she disagrees with the 2008 Heller decision that found the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms for self-defense.

Clinton saidshe supports the Second Amendment but thinks the court prevented a reasonable attempt to make guns safer. It struck down the District of Columbia's requirements for a trigger lock on all guns.

Trump said his supporters know better than to trust Clinton on the issue.

They then moved on to abortion.

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Trump said his Supreme Court appointments would guarantee the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and that the issue of legalized abortion would then go to each state to decide.

He also accused Clinton of supporting late-term abortions and the "ripping" of fetuses from women's wombs.

Clinton said she would strongly defend Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood, and said Trump was totally mischaracterizing what occurs in a late term abortion.

8:49 p.m.

(CN) - Leave it to rock and roll to throw a potential wrench into the preparations for presidential candidate debate that is now only moments away.

The Rolling Stones cancelled a Las Vegas concert scheduled for Wednesday night at the last minute after frontman Mick Jagger came down with laryngitis.

As a result, about 20,000 disappointed fans are expected to descend on the Las Vegas strip at about the same time authorities are closing roads and freeways surrounding the nearby Thomas & Mack Center.

Law enforcement officials are warning residents and tourists to prepare for blocked streets and detours around McCarran International Airport, at UNLV, and on some major roads crossing the busy Las Vegas Strip.

About 1,000 people were expected inside the debate hall, an untold number are now outside.

8:20 p.m.

(CN) - A conservative activist, James O'Keefe, has released secretly recorded, selectively edited video footage that includes a Democratic activist bragging about deploying troublemakers at rallies held by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In the wake of the video disclosures, two Democratic operatives stopped working on the presidential race and both the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign denounced the tactics described in the footage.

O'Keefe's group, Project Veritas, promised to release additional videos ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

8:07 p.m.

(CN) - Donald Trump has announced via Twitter that he will be holding a Facebook live event at 8:30 p.m. The focus of the event has not been announced.

7:58 p.m.

En route to the debate, Hillary Clinton is reportedly practicing for the big event with an aide portraying Donald Trump in "full scortched-earth mode." Trump, meanwhile, held his final debate prep about 90 minutes ago and is said to be "pumped."

7:52 p.m.

(CN) - The scene outside the Thomas & Mack Arena on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas is alive with marching bands expectant members of the news media, and keyed up supporters of the candidates.

Also on hand is a large contingent of law enforcement officers, including Las Vegas and university police, members of the Secret Service and the Nevada Highway Patrol.

7:45 p.m.

(CN) - Less than 90 minutes before the final presidential candidate debate of the 2016 race for the White House, the advantage belongs to Democrat Hillary Clinton, whose campaign in recent days has begun targeting traditionally Republican states.

Meanwhile, support for Republican Donald Trump continues to collapse and his path to electoral victory is quickly narrowing.

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Clinton is sure to come into tonight's debate continuing to try to paint Trump as unfit to be president particularly after recent revelations of vulgar comments he's made in the past about women and a string of sexual assault allegations.

But the Democrat surely faces some uncomfortable moments of her own. On Wednesday night she'll likely be asked about revelations in her advisor's hacked emails that show being inconsistent in her public and private positions on a range of issues from Wall Street to trade.

She will also certainly be pressed about a senior State Department official's request that an FBI employee re-review the classification of an email from Clinton's private server.

The now-retired FBI employee asked the State official to address a pending, unrelated request regarding space for additional FBI employees overseas. Trump is sure to make as much as he can from a perceived suggested quid-pro-quo.

Finally, pundits expect Trump to continue making the case the completely unsubstantiated case that the upcoming election is "rigged" and will be stolen from him.

Preview:

(CN) - The final presidential debate in Las Vegas Wednesday night may long be remembered as the coda to what has been one of the most bizarre presidential elections among two of the least popular candidates ever nominated.

Polling data suggests the result of election is almost a foregone conclusion, with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton holding leads in five of seven battleground states, as well as Nevada.

She also leads in Arizona, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

GOP nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, only leads in Ohio and Iowa, but needs all seven toss-up states to have any chance of securing enough electoral votes to win.

A look at the daily poll averages posted on Real Clear Politics indicates Clinton is pulling away from Trump nationally, with an average 6.9-point lead. Only the Los Angeles Times daily tracking poll shows Trump with a lead among likely voters with a 2-point edge over Clinton.

With about three weeks remaining before the Nov. 8 general election, the Nevada debate might be Trump's last chance to chip away at Clinton's growing lead.

Whether or not he performs well during the third and final debate, Trump is sure to raise eyebrows with his special debate guests.

Those guests are President Barack Obama's half-brother, Malik Obama, who was born in Kenya, and Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, who died in the 2012 Islamic militant raid on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

The raid also killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Smith blames Clinton for the deaths and has said publicly that she believes Clinton should be imprisoned.

Trump likely is banking on the appearance of Malik Obama and Smith to sway undecided voters who might be unhappy with the past eight years under Obama and Clinton's work as the former secretary of state.

It's also possible Trump is bringing Malik Obama in response to overt attacks from the President, including accusing Trump of "whining" about negative media coverage

Clinton, meanwhile, announced she will be accompanied by Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, and billionaire Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks and a dot-com entrepreneur.

Whitman is a former California GOP gubernatorial candidate who has endorsed Clinton, contributed to her campaign and made numerous appearances in support of Clinton's candidacy.

Cuban is an ardent critic of Trump's, endorsed Clinton in July and was seated in the first row during the first presidential debate this year.

Trump, meanwhile, has continued his criticism of mainstream media coverage of the election, which he has called "rigged" due to constant negative coverage of his campaign. Trump on Tuesday told his supporters to ignore media and polls and called for term limits on members of Congress.

Clinton responds by accusing Trump of making rigged election claims to make excuses for a likely losing campaign and put the blame on someone else.

Photo caption:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (Mark Ralston/Pool via AP)

Photo caption:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Photo caption:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Photo caption:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during the third presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Photo caption:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump answers a question during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Photo caption:

A television camera operator tests his position during a rehearsal for the third presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at UNLV in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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