Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton faced off in a town hall debate Sunday night at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri — a debate that went from "highly anticipated" to "must-watch television," as both nominees were confronted with their share of controversial news in the last 48 hours.

Both Trump and Clinton were visibly tense throughout the debate, signaled immediately upon taking the stage by refusing to shake hands.

The first 30 minutes of Sunday's debate were dominated by interruptions and accusations from Trump, who, at one point, called the endorsement by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders of Clinton a deal with "the devil." However, in the last two-thirds of the debate, Trump and Clinton sparred on taxes, foreign policy, the environment and jobs, among other subjects.

"That is sexual assault. You bragged that you committed sexual assault," said moderator Anderson Cooper, before asking Trump if he understood the implications of his words.

Although the debate opened with a question as to whether or not the campaigns — and the candidates — were setting a good example for the country's youth, the discussion quickly devolved into a revelation from Friday of a 2005 video in which Trump made remarks about groping women.

When pressed on it, Trump said, "I'm very embarrassed by it. I hate it. It's locker room talk," before an inexplicable non-sequitur: "I will knock the hell out of ISIS."

"I didn't say that at all. I don't think you understood what was said. This was locker room talk," Trump said. "Certainly I'm not proud of it. But this is locker room talk."

"Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women — attacked them viciously," Trump said, arguing that the accusations against her husband were "far worse" than his remarks in the video.

"He never apologizes to anybody for anything," Clinton said.

The New York businessman admitted that he avoided paying any federal income taxes for several years by taking advantage of loopholes from his nearly $1 billion loss in 1995, but refused to say for how long he has gone without paying federal income taxes.

Trump also answered other questions that were uncomfortable for him. To the surprise of many political observers, Trump offered up more information than he ever has on a question that has been the topic of discussion for more than a year: his taxes.

"Of course I do. Of course I do," said Trump, when Cooper asked if he had used that loss to lessen his tax burden. "And so do all of her donors," he said, referring big-dollar donors who contribute to Clinton's campaign.

Trump threatened Clinton during the debate, saying that if he is elected president, he will instruct the Department of Justice to investigate her over her email scandal — something the FBI has already done.

"I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm going to say this, and I hate to say it, but if I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation," Trump said. "There's never been anything like it. And we're going to get a special prosecutor."

"It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," Clinton responded.

Trump shot back: "Because you'd be in jail."

But who won the debate Sunday night probably depends on the expectations of viewers.

"A lot of people are probably going to say he did well because they expected such a meltdown," said Bruce Mallard, a professor of political science at Savannah State University who studies voting behavior. "It's possible that he will be declared the winner kind of on a technicality because he didn't perform as harshly as we thought he would."

Nonetheless, others saw a stark difference between the two in their approaches to politics and policy.

"Trump was at his most bombastic, an approach that was so successful in the Republican primaries," said Heath Brown, a professor of public policy at the City University of New York. "Clinton, on the contrary, is at heart a policy wonk, and shows that fluency in the details of so many policy areas."

Ultimately, Brown said, "For any voter that was unsure about what separates these two candidates, they surely now recognize the stark differences now."



Trump's disagreements weren't only reserved for Clinton, however. Trump also parted with his own running mate, Mike Pence, when the debate turned to foreign policy. During last week's vice presidential debate, Pence said the U.S. should strike Syrian targets to stop the siege of Aleppo.

"He and I haven't spoken and I disagree," Trump said Sunday night, in an unusual revelation just 30 days from Election Day.

Pence appeared to take it in stride, however, posting on social media that he was "proud to stand" with Trump.

Congrats to my running mate @realDonaldTrump on a big debate win! Proud to stand with you as we #MAGA.

— Mike Pence (@mike_pence) October 10, 2016

Political suspense had already been building, with analysts puzzling over whether or not Trump could resurrect his campaign after a poor performance in the first presidential debate compounded by a rough couple of weeks for Trump — the combination of which resulted in a drop in almost every poll in recent weeks. The other part of the puzzle: Could Clinton hold her hand steady through another 90 minutes of clashing with Trump?



If that wasn't enough pressure for the New York businessman to give a stellar performance at Sunday night's debate, on Friday evening Trump came under fire after a video from 2005 surfaced in which he boasts of his attempts to have sex with married women and how being a "star" allows him to kiss, grope and have sex with women whenever he sees fit.

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On the same evening, new scrutiny was placed on Hillary Clinton after WikiLeaks released its latest batch of documents related to her campaign that reveal, among other things, excerpts of private speeches to the financial sector that are believed to have earned her more than $25 million.



While media attention has firmly focused on Trump and the debacle has landed him in disfavor among many in the Republican party leadership, Republican voters clearly don't see it the same way, according to a poll released on Sunday morning.

Overall, 39 percent of registered voters say Trump should end his bid for the White House, while 45 percent think he should march on, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll. However, there's a large ideological gulf in those findings: 70 percent of Democrats say Trump should leave the race, while just 12 percent of Republicans agree. Even among Republican women, only 13 percent say Trump should end his bid.

The Clinton campaign appears to have made a conscious decision to remain silent during Trump's troubles ahead of tonight's debate, preferring not to pile on the already-intense condemnation of her opponent.

Even during the debate, Clinton may not have to say a word about it because of the town hall format — something that's not lost on the Clinton camp.

"How can you get in front of this story? You wouldn't want to if you could," longtime Clinton ally and political strategist James Carville told The Washington Post.

Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine, said undecided voters in the audience would take care of that line of questioning.

"I don't exactly know what she is going to say about it during the debate," Kaine told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday. "I think it's time for Donald Trump to answer and take responsibility." He added: "I just can't imagine that undecided voters as part of this town hall will not want to hear him explain why he thought that was acceptable behavior."

Trump, however, has remained defiant, telling the Wall Street Journal that there is "zero chance I'll quit."

His strategy going into the debate was to attack the party leaders as those who never supported him in the first place, vowing to win without them.

"A lot of the people who are being so critical now are the same ones who doubted him before," read a set of talking points sent to Trump surrogates on Sunday morning, which were obtained by The New York Times. "They are more concerned with their political future than they are about the future of the country. Mr. Trump won the Primary without the help of the insiders and he'll win the General without them, too."

Going into Sunday's debate, Clinton was pulling away in the polls. In recent national polling, Clinton leads head-to-head match-ups against Trump, with the Democrat holding 47.5 percent support compared to 42.9 percent for the New York businessman, according to averages compiled by RealClear Politics.

On Sept. 26, the date of the previous presidential debate, Clinton led by just 2.3 percentage points — 46.6 percent to 44.3 percent, according to RealClear Politics.



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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons