Clinton, Trump trade attacks in fiery first debate

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump traded blows on a host of topics in the opening hour of the first presidential debate Monday, with Clinton pinning Trump on his refusal to release his tax returns and Trump painting Clinton as an ineffective politician with no fresh ideas.

Debate moderator Lester Holt asked Trump why he's broken with tradition in not releasing his tax returns. Trump said he would release them if Clinton released emails that were deleted from her private server while secretary of state.

Clinton said Trump was trying to “bait and switch” the topic and that there were a “couple of reasons” she believed he refused to release the returns. “First, maybe he's not as rich as he says he is. Second, maybe he's not as charitable as he claims to be,” she jabbed, perhaps trying to get under Trump's skin.

The Democratic nominee also mentioned that Trump may have not paid federal taxes. Trump interjected: “That makes me smart!”

“I have no reason to believe he's ever going to release his tax returns because there's something he's hiding,” he continued. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the first presidential debate at Hofstra University. (Photos: Patrick Semansky/AP; Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

Clinton started the debate off with the first barb of the night, saying Trump — whom she calls “Donald” — was “very fortunate in his life” because he “started his business with 14 million dollars borrowed form his father.” Trump bristled at this, saying he only took a “small” loan from his father, who also was a real estate developer. Trump took pains to call Clinton by her formal title of “secretary,” sarcastically saying he wants her “to be happy” with how he addressed her.

The candidates soon talked loudly over each other during a heated debate over trade. Trump shouted at Clinton that she had approved of Trans-Pacific Partnership before she opposed it, and he called NAFTA, signed under President Bill Clinton, the worst trade deal of all time. “So it is President Obama's fault?” he asked repeatedly, after Clinton said she did not back the TPP package. “Well, Donald, I know you live in your own reality, but those are not the facts,” Clinton said. She directed debate watchers to her campaign site to check out fact checks of Trump's statements.

“I have a feeling that by the end of this evening I'll be blamed for everything that ever happened,” Clinton joked.

Trump retorted: “Why not?