Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

ST. LOUIS — The gloves came off immediately between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in their second presidential debate, as he dismissed a videotape of him making crude remarks about women as "locker-room talk" and took aim at her husband's past behavior toward women. Clinton called the allegations against her family "untrue" while saying Trump has disqualified himself from serving as president.

"This is who Donald Trump is," said Clinton. "It’s not only women, and it’s not only this video," she said. "He has also targeted immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and so many others."

Trump gave a brief response to the 2005 videotape that was released Friday in which Trump is heard boasting about using his fame to sexually impose himself on women. "I’m very embarrassed by it, I hate it but it’s locker-room talk," he said, while quickly changing the subject. "I will knock the hell out of ISIS,” he said.

Nastiest debate ever? Catch up on what you missed

Analysis: She called him a misogynist. He said she should go to jail.

The tension at the second presidential forum at Washington University was immediately apparent as the two refused to a customary hand shake at the start, though they did so at the end of the 90-minute event. The attacks did not ease throughout the entire debate as Trump repeatedly interrupted Clinton to needle her after firing an opening salvo that, if elected, he would call for a special prosecutor to investigate her private server as secretary of State. He called it "a "disgrace" and even said she'll "be in jail."

Moderators Martha Raddatz of ABC and Anderson Cooper of CNN tried to keep the candidates on track, and Trump complained they were picking on him. In the end, however, Trump spoke more than Clinton, as they answered questions in a town hall format with undecided voters from the St. Louis area.

Trump also took aim at her husband, former president Bill Clinton, contending that there's never been anyone in “the history of politics that’s been so abusive to women." He also said Hillary Clinton "attacked those same women and attacked them viciously,” points which she categorically disputed while declining to get into specifics.

Trump's pacing, lurking turn into a thing

Clinton responded by saying "everything he said is absolutely false," calling into question his fitness to serve and taking repeated opportunities to highlight her résumé and accomplishments before the audience of undecided voters. She made no real attempt to address her husband's infidelities, instead quoting first lady Michelle Obama in saying "when they go low, we go high" and noting that Trump has attacked numerous individuals and groups throughout his candidacy.

And at the end of one of the most contentious debates in presidential history, the two closed the forum with compliments in response to a question asking them to pick one thing they admire about each other. Clinton praised Trump's children while Trump said Clinton never gives up, echoing a line she often uses on the stump.

Trump, Clinton end debate with compliments

Trump came into the debate facing an unprecedented constellation of problems: Crude remarks on tape he made about women, falling poll numbers and an expanding list of Republicans who want him to somehow exit the presidential race.

The discussion touched on Obamacare, the rise of Islamophobia in the United States as well as Clinton's own controversy over hacked emails. Clinton faced her own public relations crisis after the WikiLeaks group released hacked emails allegedly from her campaign chairman John Podesta. Among them was an internal review of potentially embarrassing statements she’d made during paid speeches to Wall Street that the campaign has declined to release. One of them referenced how she likes to take both a private and public position on issues.

In the debate, Clinton said the remarks were inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s reflections about how to bring together various interests before pointing out that the Russian government is behind the email hack and calling on Trump to release his tax returns. “They’re not doing it to get me elected,” said Clinton, “They’re doing it to try to influence the election for Donald Trump,” she said. Trump said Clinton is trying to blame the controversy on Lincoln. “I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia,” including no loans, said Trump.

Trump to Clinton: You're no Lincoln

One of the most notable moments was when Trump said he disagrees with his running mate’s approach to stopping the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Aleppo, Syria.

“He and I haven’t spoken and I disagree,” he said of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. “We have to worry about ISIS before we can get too much more involved,” he said. Clinton said she advocates a no-fly zone and safe zones and pointed the finger at the Russians for much of the humanitarian crisis. “What is at stake here is the ambitions and the aggressiveness of Russia,” she said, noting that the United States should investigate war crimes committed by the Russians and the Syrians.

Tax code and health care

On taxes, Trump cast Clinton as unable to fix the U.S. tax code because she is a career politician. “She’s been there for 30 years” and “she never will change.” For the first time, Trump confirmed that a 1995 tax return, first uncovered by the New York Times, showing he took a $960 million deduction did help him avoid paying federal income tax. “Of course I did,” he said, arguing many of Clinton’s donors did the same thing and needling her for failing to change the tax code.

Clinton smiled, saying “I was a senator with a Republican president” and “under our Constitution, presidents have something called veto power." She also pointed out that she has long advocated to close tax loopholes like the one that allowed Trump to avoid paying taxes.

On Obamacare, Clinton said while the program is not perfect, the United States should preserve aspects of it that are popular, such as coverage for adult children. “Let’s fix what’s broken about it but let’s not throw it away,” she said. Trump called Obamacare “a disaster” and said he’d repeal it and replace it with a plan that provides “more competition,” without offering specifics. Clinton said that amounts to essentially turning it over to the insurance companies, which was the approach prior to Obamacare.

The two weighed in on the rising trend of Islamophobia in the United States, as Trump quickly pivoted to the burden Muslims should feel to report any suspected terrorist activity in their communities. Clinton stressed the harm that comes from alienating American Muslims.

When they see hatred, they “have to report it,” said Trump, who also hit Clinton for refusing to say the words “radical Islamic terror.” Clinton called it dangerous “to be engaging in the kind of demagogic rhetoric” Trump is using about Muslims, and she called it a “gift” to the Islamic State. Trump’s language is being used to recruit fighters, she said.

Trump's pre-debate conference

In a sign he planned an aggressive debate, Trump spent time just hours before the event with three women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct over the past four decades: Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey. The GOP nominee also spoke with Kathy Shelton, a rape victim in the 1970s whose assailant was defended by then-attorney Hillary Clinton.

The frenzy began Friday with the surfacing of a 2005 tape in which Trump talks about being able to "do anything" to women because he is wealthy, and says he often kisses and grabs them without warning.

When the topic came to temperament, the two cast each other as divisive figures who would further polarize the country. Trump pointed to previous comments by Clinton, made during a private fundraiser, that some of his supporters are “deplorable.”

“Within hours I said I was sorry about the way I talked about that,” said Clinton, clarifying that her problem isn’t with his supporters, “it’s with him.” Meantime, she noted that “children listen to what is being said” in the campaign by Trump. “Teachers and parents are calling it the Trump effect. Bullying is up,” she said.

Trump repeatedly counter punched by coming back to the “deplorables” remark. “She has tremendous hate in her heart," he said.

Trump on Clinton: 'She has tremendous hate in her heart'

Trump's pre-debate Facebook Live features Bill Clinton accusers

GOP defections

Trump's more combative approach stood in contrast to his first face off with Clinton and it came as a variety of Republicans — from former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to members of the House and Senate, including the party's 2008 presidential nominee, John McCain — said they simply find his comments about women unacceptable.

Clinton repeatedly used the Republican defections to make her case that Trump lacks the temperament to become president. “It’s not only my opinion,” she said, citing a host of Republican national security officials, among others.

Even before the videotape of Trump's comments detailing how he uses his fame and power to grope women, he was seeing bad polls coming off of a poorly reviewed debate performance against Clinton on Sept. 26.

New NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls, taken before the tape story broke Friday, gave Clinton a 3-point lead over Trump in Florida and a 9-point advantage in Pennsylvania. Trump probably needs to win both Pennsylvania and Florida to have a chance of winning the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the White House.

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