Hillary Clinton Exposes Donald Trump's Pressure Points in First Presidential Debate

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed in personal terms during the first presidential debate Monday night, but it was a composed Clinton who got under the Republican nominee's skin over his business dealings, his difficulties with facts and how he treats women.

"You know, Donald was very fortunate in his life and that's all to his benefit. He started his business with $14 million, borrowed from his father, and he really believes that the more you help wealthy people, the better off we'll be and that everything will work out from there," Clinton said at the start of the debate.

Trump, immediately on the defense, snapped back, "My father gave me a very small loan in 1975 and I built it into a company that's worth many, many billions of dollars with some of the greatest assets in the world, and I say that only because that's the kind of thinking our country needs."

At a moment when Trump appeared to score points by saying he would provide his tax returns if Clinton "releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted," he was quickly on the ropes again.

"So it's negotiable?" asked moderator Lester Holt, with Trump responding: "It's not negotiable, no."

Clinton saw the opening, saying, "I think you've just seen another example of bait and switch here." She added: "For 40 years, everyone running for president has released their tax returns."

"First, maybe he's not as rich as he says he is," Clinton said, theorizing as to why Trump won't disclose his returns. "Second, maybe he's not as charitable as he claims to be. Third, we don't know all of his business dealings, but we have been told, through investigative reporting, that he owes about $650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn't want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he's paid nothing in federal taxes."

Clinton also accused Trump of celebrating the the housing collapse of 2008.

"Donald was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis," said Clinton.

Trump replied: "That’s called business."

Trump also got into a brief argument with Holt about the Iraq War, which the moderator had said the New York businessman supported before it began.

"I did not support the war in Iraq. That is a mainstream media nonsense," Trump said, stumbling a bit as he tried to make his point. "Wait a minute. I was against the war in Iraq. Just so you put it out."

"The record does not show that," Holt replied.

"The record shows that I’m right," Trump said, downplaying a 2002 radio interview with Howard Stern, in which Trump had said he supported the war before it began. "I said,very lightly, ‘I don’t know, maybe, who knows.'"

Check out more highlights from Monday night's first presidential debate:

In the final minutes of the debate, Trump was asked about comments he made earlier this month about Clinton not having the appearance to be president, but he tried to pivot to Clinton's "stamina."

"She doesn’t have the look. She doesn’t have the stamina. I said she doesn’t have the stamina. I don’t believe she does have the stamina," Trump said. “You have to be able to negotiate our trade deals …I don’t believe that Hillary has the stamina.”

Clinton appeared ready for the question, responding, "Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities and nations around the world — or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee — he can talk to me about stamina."

"He tried to switch from looks to stamina," Clinton said, pivoting to Trump's perceptions of women. "This is a man who has called women pigs, slobs and dogs."

"One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest — he loves beauty contests, supporting them, and hanging around them," said Clinton. "He called this woman Miss Piggy. Then he called her Miss Housekeeping, because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado, and she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons