–11 MOMENTS THAT MATTERED AT THE DEBATE: The second presidential debate came at the end of a tumultuous and unprecedented week on the campaign trail, and the battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump reflected every bit of that drama. The Republican and Democratic presidential nominees faced off in the town hall-style debate, which was co-moderated by ABC News’ Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper at Washington University in St. Louis. The fireworks started early and carried through the debate’s 90 minutes. Here are eleven moments that mattered at Sunday night’s debate from ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY, VERONICA STRACQUALURSI, SHUSHANNAH WALSHE, MERIDITH MCGRAW and JULIA JACOBO: http://abcn.ws/2dESgRb
–DEBATE FACT-CHECK: A closer look at some of the candidates’ statements courtesy of the ABC News Fact Check desk: http://abcn.ws/2e2gSmk MOST MEMORABLE LINES OF THE SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, courtesy of ABC’s ADAM KELSEY: http://abcn.ws/2dYyEuI
–TRUMP — ‘EMBARRASSED’ BY VULGAR 2005 TAPE: Donald Trump said he was “very embarrassed” by his vulgar comments that were recorded in 2005 when he talked about his ability to make advances on women because of his fame. “I hate it but it’s locker room talk,” he said in last night’s presidential debate in St. Louis, ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY writes. “This was locker room talk. I’m not proud of it. I apologized to my family. I apologized to the American people. Certainly I’m not proud of it. But this is locker room talk,” he said. Trump then pivoted to ISIS and how the group is “chopping off heads” and how “so many bad things [are] happening — this is like medieval times,” saying such issues should be the focus of the debate. “We should get on to much more important things and much bigger things,” the Republican presidential nominee said. http://abcn.ws/2dYAXOJ
–THE ‘ACCUSERS’ IN THE AUDIENCE: Trump used old sex assault claims against Bill Clinton as a way to attack Hillary Clinton during last night’s debate. “If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse, mine are words, and his was action. His was — what he’s done to women, there’s never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that’s been so abusive to women….Hillary Clinton attacked those same women. And attacked them viciously, four of them here tonight,” Trump said. The women in question are Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, and Kathleen Willey, all of whom have accused former president Bill Clinton of either having a sexual relationship with them or making unwanted sexual advances; the fourth is Kathy Shelton, who was raped at the age of 12 and whose alleged attacker was represented by Hillary Clinton.
–NO GREAT SHAKES: Clinton and Trump refused to shake hands at the start of the debate, ABC’s JULIA JACOBO notes. Clinton merely nodded in his direction, saying, “Hello.” The candidates eventually shook hands at the end of the debate, after an audience member asked them to “name one positive thing that you respect in one another.” http://abcn.ws/2dMHaJQ
DEBATE WRAP with ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
TRUMP SAYS CLINTON WOULD BE ‘IN JAIL’ IF HE WERE PRESIDENT. Donald Trump took direct aim at the email scandal that has dogged Hillary Clinton throughout her campaign, saying if he were president he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into the case and that she’d be “in jail” if he were in charge, ABC’s PAUL BLAKE notes. “If I win, I am going to instruct my Attorney General to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation, because there has never been so many lies, so much deception, there has never been anything like it, and we’re going to have a special prosecutor,” the Republican nominee said. http://abcn.ws/2dHFKRy
TRUMP VS. PENCE ON SYRIA. Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence are divided on how to solve the longstanding war in Syria, ABC’s JULIA JACOBO reports. Debate moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News asked Trump what he would do as president “about Syria and the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo.” Raddatz reminded Trump that Pence said “provocations need to be met with American strength, and if Russia continues to be involved along with the Syrian forces, the United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike the military targets of the Assad regime” at last week’s vice presidential debate. “He and I haven’t spoken, and I disagree,” Trump answered. “Syria is no longer Syria. I believe we have to get ISIS. http://abcn.ws/2dVb6T5
TRUMP SAYS ‘OF COURSE’ HE USED $916M LOSS TO ‘AVOID’ TAXES. Trump admitted that “of course” he employed a provision of the tax code that allowed him to use a massive business loss that he claims he suffered in the 1990s to “avoid” paying taxes. Trump has drawn scrutiny for not releasing his federal income tax returns, as is common practice for presidential candidates, saying that he is currently under audit, according to ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY. A portion of his 1995 tax returns were leaked to The New York Times and those pages showed that he claimed a $916 million loss, which may have allowed him not to pay personal federal income tax for a number of years afterwards. The three pages from the state returns — New York and non-resident filings from Connecticut and New Jersey — were not disputed by the campaign. http://abcn.ws/2dHKbMh
INSIDE THE CHAOTIC SPIN ROOM AFTER THE DEBATE. The spin room at Washington University in St. Louis was even more packed than expected after last night’s presidential debate, as much of the room had been sectioned off in a corral. There was speculation that Donald Trump would be repeating his move from the first presidential debate and coming to the spin room to talk directly with reporters after leaving the stage, but that didn’t happen this time. Instead, several of Bill Clinton’s accusers, who Trump brought as guests to the debate, were the ones who first filled the corral. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY has highlights of what they and others in the spin room said: http://abcn.ws/2dqajJj
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
FLASHBACK: TRUMP CALLED BILL CLINTON’S ACCUSERS ‘TERRIBLE,’ ‘UNATTRACTIVE’ AND FORMER PRESIDENT ‘TERRIFIC.’ Over the weekend, Donald Trump called former President Bill Clinton an abuser of women and Hillary Clinton a bully who intimidated his victims. But if you rewind to 1998, the Republican presidential nominee had a very different view of the 42nd president, defending him as the real “victim” in the wake of the fallout of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and blasting the accusers as “terrible” and “unattractive.” He also suggested that Clinton should have kept the scandal — which he said “should have been nothing — to himself.” ABC’s JORDYN PHELPS has more. http://abcn.ws/2d5DPTM
WHO’S TWEETING?
@amyewalter: “This is still Clinton’s race to lose. And Trump refuses to do what he needs to win it.” my take on last nite http://cookpolitical.com/story/10076
@InesdLC: Pence on whether he was considering jumping ship: “That was absolutely false.. These rumors just furl around presidential campaigns”
@JenniferJJacobs: Asked on MSNBC if he’ll stay with Trump til the end, Mike Pence doesn’t say yes or no. Honored to be nominee, will work help the country.
@PatrickSvitek: Just realized: No post-debate review last night from @TedCruz, who quickly offered praise for Trump at Hofstra and Pence at Longwood.
@RichardHaass: Happy Columbus Day? My guess is that if Christopher Columbus had a preview of this past weekend he would have turned his ship around