Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will square off for the third and final time in Las Vegas tonight for what has been dubbed "Fight Night".

After two vitriolic presidential debates, much of which were spent trading insults and discussing sexual assault allegations rather than policies, the third could top the lot as Mr Trump battles to make up lost ground on his rival.

It emerged last night that he had apparently invited President Barack Obama's half brother, Malik Obama, to the debate.

“I’m excited to be at the debate. Trump can make America great again,” Malik Obama told the New York Post.

He also backed Mr Trump over allegations from several women that the presidential candidate had sexually assaulted them in the past.

“I don’t believe them,” he said. “Why didn’t they come forward before?”

Mr Trump, who has denied all allegation of sexual assault, said: “I look very much forward to meeting and being with Malik. He gets it far better than his brother.”</s>Las Vegas is known for prizefights. So it was fitting that after a sluggish first few rounds, Hillary Clinton waded in with tactical precision in Wednesday's final presidential debate, while Fox News' Chris Wallace distinguished himself as a first-class referee.

That leaves Clinton's opponent, Donald Trump. Through the first third, he engaged in a straightforward policy debate, with Wallace doing an admirable job of keeping the conversation on track, through substantive exchanges about tax policy, abortion and immigration.

But then like a cornered fighter who begins punching wildly, Trump -- seemingly triggered by Clinton's jab about him being a "puppet" of Russian leader Vladimir Putin -- appeared to lose his cool. At times Wallace struggled to rein him in -- with Trump openly arguing with one question before the moderator could finish it -- and Trump's hostility looked as if it derailed his fight plan, leading Trump to again start interrupting and fuming during Clinton's answers.

Politically, the obvious passage that will echo beyond the debate was Trump's unwillingness to say that he will accept the results of the election, amid his comments about the process being "rigged" during the run-up to the debate.

But there were other moments that simply played badly as a matter of style, especially near the end when Clinton alluded to Trump not paying taxes, and he muttered, "Such a nasty woman." That followed Trump referring to her campaign as "sleazy" and "crooked."

Trump experienced a bit of an embarrassment at the hands of the audience as well, when the subject of his behavior toward women arose. When the candidate repeated a line he has used before, "Nobody has more respect for women than I do," it elicited laughter, despite Wallace's admonishments for the crowd to remain silent.

Related: Chris Wallace looks to make a mark for Fox News at presidential debate

Trump also inadvertently fed the perception that Clinton was getting under his skin when he deviated to talk about watching TV that afternoon, and seeing all the attack ads she was running against him. It's not the first time the candidate has been riled by watching television -- in this case, at a time when one might think he'd be getting his game face on.

Both candidates changed the subject at times in response to uncomfortable questions, a tactic Wallace occasionally allowed. But he generally lived up to the boxing referee analogy -- letting the two trade blows as much as possible, and doing what he could to break things up when one (usually Trump) insisted on hitting after the bell.

Too much has been made of Wallace being the first Fox News anchor to moderate a presidential debate, given the network's significant role in the primaries. But after the year Fox has endured thanks to the scandal surrounding former CEO Roger Ailes, Wallace's steady performance should provide its personnel with a morale boost nevertheless.

Strictly as a viewer, it was hard to escape a feeling that Clinton had plotted out an arc that the debate followed: jabbing at Trump in a manner that made him more reckless as the evening wore on, while she sought to continue looking presidential -- acting as if he'd never laid a glove on her.

During the post-debate analysis, many of the political commentators accused Trump of a self-inflicted knockout with his reaction to the legitimacy of the election. Yet even excluding that, before it was over he wound up looking like a brawler, while Clinton was content to win on points.</s>Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's plane (TOP) passes Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign plane at McCarran International Airport on October 18, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the eve of the two candidates' third and final US presidential debate. (AFP PHOTO/Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's plane (TOP) passes Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign plane at McCarran International Airport on October 18, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the eve of the two candidates' third and final US presidential debate. (AFP PHOTO/Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he heads to his plane after a rally at Grand Junction Regional Airport on October 18, 2016 in Grand Junction Colorado. Trump is on his way to Las Vegas for the third and final presidential debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

An employee wearing a mask of Donald Trump poses for a photograph at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A worker paints a mask of Donald Trump at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A worker paints a mask of Donald Trump at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Masks of Donal Trump are seen in a basket at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton departs the stage following the third and final US presidential debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump (background) at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 19, 2016. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Republican nominee Donald Trump speaks as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton laughs during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 19, 2016. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

LAS VEGAS — Trailing in the polls, Donald Trump had little to lose in his final debate against Hillary Clinton. He still managed to send shock waves, refusing to say he would accept the results of the 2016 election if he loses.

Trump largely steered clear of making personal attacks against Clinton at the start of the debate, but repeatedly clashed with the former secretary of state as it went on. He called her a liar, questioned her experience and at one point labeled her “such a nasty woman.”

Unconventional as always, the celebrity businessman wouldn’t commit to conceding the election if he fails to win the White House, a staggering declaration by a presidential nominee.

More than an hour into the debate, Trump would not commit to honouring the election results if Clinton wins. Pressed by moderator Chris Wallace, Trump said he would “keep you in suspense.”

Clinton said it was “horrifying” that Trump wouldn’t heed the nation’s tradition of having a peaceful transfer of power. The businessman has argued without providing any evidence that the election is rigged against him and has suggested Clinton would be an illegitimate president because she used a private email server as secretary of state. He said she “never should have been allowed to run.”

Trump faces the possibility of a large gender gap against Clinton and some of his commentary is unlikely to help him with women voters in swing states.

At the end of the night, Trump referred to Clinton as a “nasty woman” and denied again that he had engaged in any sexually aggressive behaviour, blaming Clinton’s campaign for the series of women who have charged him with groping and other forms of harassment and assault in recent days. The GOP candidate said he didn’t know his accusers.

“I didn’t even apologize to my wife,” Trump said, “because I didn’t do anything.” In an interview earlier this week, Melania Trump said her husband apologized to her.

Clinton didn’t let the moment go, noting that Trump had derided the women as unattractive and “disgusting.” Clinton said, “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger.”

The candidates had their first extended exchange over abortion rights of the general election. Trump said he thought Roe vs. Wade would “automatically” be overturned if he is elected because he will appoint justices who are against abortion rights. But he refused to say whether he personally thinks the landmark case should be overturned.

Clinton said she’d strongly defend the ruling and offered a passionate defence of a woman’s right to have an abortion, even as Trump accused her of supporting “ripping” babies from their mothers’ wombs.

“This is one of the worst possible choices that any woman and her family has to make, and I do not believe the government should be making it,” Clinton said.

A question over immigration quickly turned into a sharp exchange over Russia’s role in the election, an issue that has become central to the campaign.

Asked about her apparent support for “open borders” in a private speech to a Brazilian bank, Clinton pointed out that the excerpt came from a hack of her campaign chairman’s personal email — an intrusion that U.S. intelligence agencies blame on Russia. She called on Trump to “reject Russian espionage against Americans” and cast him as a “puppet” of Vladimir Putin.

Trump shot back that Clinton was the “puppet,” saying “of course” he condemns Russia or any other country interfering in the U.S. elections. But Trump said he doubted that Russia had hacked emails from her campaign. Trump went onto say that Putin is not “my best friend.” He added, “She doesn’t like Putin because Putin has outsmarted her at every step of the way.”

The Republican, who has called for building a wall the length of the U.S.-Mexico border, also blamed some “bad hombres here” for drug epidemics around the country, and promised “we’re going to get ’em out.”

At the end of President Barack Obama’s two terms, Trump tried to reach voters who may be in the mood for a change in Washington. He cast himself as an outsider, acknowledging to Clinton: “The one thing you have over me is experience. But it’s bad experience.”

Trump said, “The problem is, you talk, but you don’t get anything done, Hillary.”

Clinton responded by comparing her record over the past three decades to Trump’s resume as a businessman. She pointedly noted that on the day she was inside the White House Situation Room during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Trump was hosting his NBC reality show, “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Trump did not appear to do enough to connect with women, college-educated and suburban voters who have gravitated to Clinton during the fall and helped her build a solid lead in preference polls.

His unwillingness to say he’ll accept the results of the election should he lose will give Clinton another way to argue that he doesn’t have the temperament to be president.

And now Trump has little time to make up ground. When the debate got underway, about 2.2 million Americans had already voted and many more will take part in in-person early voting next week. Clinton’s campaign expects more than half the electorate in the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina and Nevada will vote before Election Day.

For many voters, the debate may have been the final chance for Clinton and Trump to make their case.</s>After months of anticipation and weeks of hype, the final presidential debate landed in Las Vegas, bringing political pundits, protesters and pageantry.

Before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took to their lecterns at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, supporters and characters gathered nearby.

They carried placards and plastered themselves with buttons. Trump backers flashed signs showing the real estate magnate wearing a Make America Great Again ball cap that read, “Hillary Says You’re Deplorables, Trump says you’re patriots.” Clinton backers carried signs reading “Love Trumps Hate.”

Although they were free to clap and march, UNLV police forbade megaphones, arguing that they disturbed classes and interfered with broadcasting journalists, who’d come from across the country.

The debate inside the Thomas & Mack was often intense and contentious. Clinton labeled Trump a “puppet” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Trump called Clinton a liar and criminal who should have been prosecuted, not allowed to run for president. The puppet remark became an instant meme on Twitter, drawing hundreds of hashtagged tweets.

The presidential debate is over, but election season lasts a little longer. Both Clinton and Trump have campaigned heavily for the state’s six electoral votes.

Ballots in Nevada will be cast starting Saturday.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the valley Sunday to stump for Clinton.</s>Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, speaks during the third presidential debate at University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Wednesday for the third presidential debate. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</s>Watch the final presidential debate Wednesday on CNN at 9pm ET

Las Vegas (CNN) For Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it's time to begin the closing arguments.

Both nominees enter Wednesday's presidential debate -- the final showdown of the election season -- with historically high unfavorability ratings, and need to convince undecided voters why the country would be worse off with their opponent in the White House.

The match-up also comes as Trump is making perhaps his most outlandish argument yet -- that the 2016 election is rigged to help Clinton win. Clinton, meanwhile, will have a fresh set of questions to answer around newly released hacked emails and fresh revelations about her use of a private email server at the State Department.

If the last two debates are any indication, Wednesday night promises to be contentious, theatrical, and unpredictable. Here's what to watch:

Will Trump insist the election is 'rigged?"

With his national poll numbers sliding and Democrats making a strong play for Republicans strongholds like Arizona, Trump is issuing a fresh warning to supporters: If I lose, don't believe the results.

His message that the election is "rigged" and that the political system is skewed to guarantee a Clinton victory, shows Trump taking his distrust of the media and propensity to fuel conspiracy theories beyond what even he has exhibited previously.

It's a scorched-earth strategy that the Republican nominee appears likely to stick to before millions of viewers on Wednesday night, even though many of Trump's fellow Republicans have repudiated talk of a rigged vote.

Trump's critics argue that his insistence that the election is rigged simply underscores the nominee's growing pessimism about his Election Day prospects.

At a news conference in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday, President Barack Obama mocked Trump for "whining before the game's even over."

There is "no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America's elections," Obama said.

Trump's theatrics -- and can Clinton "go high?"

Trump managed to catch almost everyone by surprise at the second debate in St. Louis last weekend.

Less than two hours before the event, Trump convened a media availability featuring women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct in the past. Trump then invited that group to sit inside the debate hall -- no doubt a move aimed at throwing Hillary Clinton off of her game.

The entire spectacle was a reminder that there is nothing predictable about the nominee, and there's no telling what theatrics the GOP nominee might resort to in Las Vegas. His campaign has already announced they will bring Obama's Kenyan-born half-brother, Malik, and Patricia Smith, mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith, to the debate.

Trump could be in an especially volatile mood as he tries to beat back a flood of new allegations that he had inappropriately kissed or groped women and is on the defensive about his flailing poll numbers.

Clinton has so far responded to Trump's bombast with a strategy most famously articulated by Michelle Obama: "When they go low, we go high." The Democratic nominee appears likely to stick to that theme Wednesday.

At the very least, Trump's top advisers say that they would prefer a final debate focused on substance and policy, rather than the troubling accusations that have recently overwhelmed their candidate.

"If it were up to me this entire conversation would be about what I know the people would want it to be about, which is the issues," Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Monday. "They want this debate to be about health care and terrorism and the economy and taxes and corruption and government."

Despite these comments from his own campaign manager, Trump has repeatedly struggled to stay focused on policy, choosing instead to unleash attacks on various foes like House Speaker Paul Ryan or former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado.

Steady and practiced: Will it work for Clinton again?

If Trump's debate performances have been unpredictable and his debate preparations unconventional, Clinton has stuck to the most traditional playbook -- practice, practice, practice.

The Democratic nominee has kept a grueling debate prep schedule ahead of each of the three debates, even clearing her calendar of campaign events for days at a time. (Sunday, she held a six-hour prep session at a hotel near her home in New York.)

All of the time spent hunkered down with advisers appeared to pay off in the first two debates -- Clinton has avoided major gaffes; consistently fact-checked her opponent; and stuck to a collected demeanor on stage.

But the political terrain on Wednesday night will be tricky to navigate, even for a practiced debate veteran.

In one of the speeches, Clinton says it was necessary for Congress to beef up financial regulations "for political reasons" -- comments that will not sit well with critics who believe the former secretary of state is too cozy with Wall Street.

Clinton's emails have also been thrust back into the spotlight.

Clinton is posed to pivot any WikiLeaks talk to Russia. Clinton aide Jennifer Palmieri told reporters that in addressing the issue, Clinton will discuss the "disturbing role" that Russia is playing in the U.S. election.

"We think that important context for that should focus on the extraordinary and unprecedented and very disturbing role that Russia is playing in trying to influence our election," Palmieri said.

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace has the prestigious assignment of moderating the election's final debate -- but he also faces tremendous pressure to hold Clinton and Trump accountable.

Past debates have ramped up pressure on the debate moderators to resist playing the role of a passive referee. There is an expectation for Wallace to call out the nominees if they make false claims and aggressively keep them in check, particularly if they cut away from the questions that are asked.

And at a point in the election where conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated allegations are threatening to become more than just fringe ideas, Wallace, more than ever, will be expected to remind viewers what is and isn't on the level.

Wallace acknowledged the weight of the task in front of him, saying on Sunday: "This is not a TV show. "

He has announced six topics for the debate, including some on policy that have not been addressed in the two previous meetings. The topics: debt and entitlements, immigration, economy, Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and fitness to be president.

"This is part of civics, the Constitution if you will, in action, because this is helping millions of people decide who we're going to elect as the next president," Wallace said.

Clinton's major challenge Wednesday night is not so different from the challenge she's confronted over the past few months: presenting the country with a positive vision for her presidency that is detached from her argument against Trump.

The Democratic nominee's day-to-day feuds with Trump have at times obscured her own message.

Her aides openly acknowledge that the process of running against such an unconventional candidate like Trump has made it hard for Clinton to stick to her talking points and share her personal story -- this is part of the reason the nominee has delivered a series of "Stronger Together" speeches in recent weeks centered around her decades in public life.

Trump's challenge is even more significant. The debate is a final chance to try to convince skeptical voters that the first-time political candidate is capable of assuming the office of the presidency and turn around the deeply embedded narrative that he lacks the temperament to be commander-in-chief.

Not only will that be difficult to do so close to Election Day, it's unclear that Trump will stray from his default position of throwing red meat to his existing base of supporters.

At a campaign rally in Colorado the day before the debate, Trump ran through his usual list of grievances -- including questioning the accuracy of polls and accusing the media of bias -- and presenting himself as a Washington outsider.

"Decades of failure in Washington and special interest dealing must and will come to an end," Trump said. "Either we win this election, or we lose our country."

Will there be a handshake?</s>Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's plane (TOP) passes Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign plane at McCarran International Airport on October 18, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the eve of the two candidates' third and final US presidential debate. (AFP PHOTO/Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he heads to his plane after a rally at Grand Junction Regional Airport on October 18, 2016 in Grand Junction Colorado. Trump is on his way to Las Vegas for the third and final presidential debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

An employee wearing a mask of Donald Trump poses for a photograph at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A worker paints a mask of Donald Trump at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A worker paints a mask of Donald Trump at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Masks of Donal Trump are seen in a basket at the Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory on October 18, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Shenzhen Lanbingcai Latex Crafts Factory, located in the industrial area of Shenzhen with 20 to 30 employees, produces all sort of Halloween and party costumes and masks. It runs a small scale production of Donald Trump masks for local distribution within mainland China costing from 30 Renminbi onwards as the third Presidential Debate 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton happens on Thursday. Chinese media have derided the election as a risible variety show in which the candidates' spectacular personal failings have taken precedence over the business of governance. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's plane (TOP) passes Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign plane at McCarran International Airport on October 18, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the eve of the two candidates' third and final US presidential debate. (AFP PHOTO/Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s ugly and acrimonious battle for the White House is barrelling toward the end, with the candidates taking the debate stage Wednesday night for one final primetime showdown.

For Trump, the debate is perhaps his last opportunity to turn around a race that appears to be slipping away from him. His predatory comments about women and a flood of sexual assault accusations have deepened his unpopularity with women and limited his pathways to victory. His supporters remain intensely loyal, but there are few signs he’s attracting the new backers he desperately needs.

Clinton takes the stage facing challenges of her own. While the electoral map currently leans in her favour, the Democrat is facing a new round of questions about her authenticity and trustworthiness, concerns that have trailed her throughout the campaign. The hacking of her top campaign adviser’s emails revealed a candidate that is averse to apologizing, can strike a different tone in private than in public, and makes some decisions only after painstaking political deliberations.

The last in a trio of presidential debates, Wednesday’s contest in Las Vegas comes just under three weeks from Election Day and with early voting already underway in more than 30 states. At least 2.1 million voters have cast ballots already.

Trump has leaned on an increasingly brazen strategy in the campaign’s closing weeks, including peddling charges that the election will be rigged, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. presidential contests. He’s also charged that Clinton attacked and intimidated women involved with her husband’s affairs, bringing three women who accused former President Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual contact and even rape to sit in the audience for the second debate. The former president has never been charged with crimes related to the encounters, though he did settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Trump is bringing President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Trump supporter Malik Obama, as his debate guest. Clinton is bringing billionaire and frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, one of the former secretary of state’s highest-profile Republican backers.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said the Democratic nominee “will be ready for whatever scorched-earth tactics (Trump) tries” in Wednesday’s debate. And, on MSNBC, Trump campaign manager Kellyann Conway summed up her advice to her candidate in a word: “Focus.”

Republicans desperately hope Trump can close the campaign by focusing on Clinton’s weaknesses, a strategy some privately concede may not be enough at this point for him to win, but could help GOP Senate candidates salvage their races.

The businessman has shown flashes of renewed focus in recent days, including highlighting a senior State Department official’s request that the FBI help reduce the classification of an email from Clinton’s private server. It was to be part of a bargain that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries, though it was not immediately clear whether the State Department official or someone at the FBI first raised that prospect.

Campaigning Tuesday in Colorado, Trump called the matter “felony corruption” and worse than the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. The Republican National Committee said Wednesday it had written the State Department’s inspector general requesting a “full investigation.”

Clinton, who has meticulously prepared for the three debates at the expense of time in battleground states, visibly rattled Trump in their first showdown by using his own controversial comments about women and minorities against him. The businessman was on the defence at the start of the second debate — which came days after the release of a video in which he brags about kissing and grabbing women — but ended on stronger footing, hammering Clinton for being a creature of Washington who won’t be able to bring about change.

Trump denied in the second debate that he had made the kind of unwanted sexual advances he is heard describing on the video. His denial prompted some of the women who have since publicly accused him of assault to come forward.

The Republican has acquiesced to some advisers who pressed for him to do more serious preparations after the first debate. Still, he’s continued to eschew the mock debates and multiday prep sessions that he’s criticizing Clinton for.

“She’s been doing this for 30 years and now she has to do debate prep for five days,” Trump said. “You know what the debate prep is? It’s resting. It’s lying down and going to sleep.

Moderator Chris Wallace — the first Fox News journalist to moderate a debate — has said he plans to ask the candidates about debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and their fitness to be president. He aims to spend 15 minutes on each topic.

AP writers Josh Lederman and Hope Yen in Washington and Jill Colvin in Colorado Springs, Colorado, contributed to this report.</s>With less than three weeks left until Election Day, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump went head-to-head in the third and final presidential debate that aired on Wednesday night. It gradually developed into a series of heated exchanges over issues and personal attacks.

Moderated by Fox News journalist Chris Wallace in Las Vegas, the debate had numerous tumultuous moments throughout. When Wallace asked Trump to clarify his claims that the election is rigged and whether he would concede if he were to lose the election, Trump said he will “look at it at the time” and refused to answer the question. Clinton called his remark “horrifying.”

Trump also revealed that if he were to be elected as president, he would nominate judges in the Supreme Court and hinted the 1973 Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision that protects women’s right to abortion could be overturned. Trump, describing himself as pro-life, criticized Clinton for her stance on abortion, saying she permits people to “rip the baby out of the womb” near birth. Clinton responded with expressing her support to the Supreme Court decision and women’s decisions in their health care and reproductive rights.

About 30 minutes into the debate, the candidates began to interrupt each other, including at one point when Trump called Clinton a puppet and “such a nasty woman” while Clinton made fun of Trump for building a hotel using steel from China while he accuses the country of stealing jobs from the United States. Both candidates also insulted each other’s experience.

Trump told Clinton the one thing she has over him is experience but called it “bad experience.”

“She’s been doing this for 30 years. Why the hell didn’t you do it over the last 15, 20 years?” Trump said.

Clinton responded, “I’m happy to compare my 30 years of experience, what I’ve done for this country … with your 30 years.”

The debate had tense moments as immigration was introduced as a subject. Trump repeated his idea of erecting a wall on the southern border and called for strong border security. He also accused Clinton of giving amnesty to undocumented citizens, which he described as “a disaster” and “very unfair” to people waiting legally to obtain citizenship.

“We have some bad hombres here and we’re gonna get them out,” Trump said.

Clinton fought back Trump’s remarks, saying she will deport individuals who need to be deported and strengthen the border. At the same time, she said she does not want to “rip families apart” and accused Trump of hiring undocumented people in his company.

“I want to get everybody out of the shadows and make sure they aren’t being taken advantage of,” Clinton said.

When Wallace brought up sexual assault allegations against Trump, he denied them and said accounts of the accusers are “largely debunked.”

“I didn’t even apologize to my wife, who’s sitting right here, because I didn’t do anything,” Trump said.

Clinton responded by saying, “Donald thinks belittling women makes him bigger.”

On economy, Trump brought up his proposed tax cuts and his plans to bring back jobs to the country. Trump also said he will renegotiate or terminate NAFTA, a trade deal formed among the U.S., Mexico and Canada under former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Clinton said her plan raises taxes on the wealthy to fund programs such as social security, as she demanded the upper class to pay its fair share. In addition, she said she wants to make college debt-free if the plan Clinton and her primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were to be implemented.

The poll taken by Quinnipiac University between Monday and Tuesday surveying 1,007 likely voters shows Clinton leading Trump by six points — 50 to 44 percent, with a 3.9 percentage point margin of error.</s>The debate was in its closing sequence when Donald Trump finally uttered the slogan that inspires derision in many of the workers at his Las Vegas hotel. Make America Great Again. From the cavernous trade union meeting room across town where some of those workers had gathered to watch the debate, an ironic cheer went up.

For these low-paid housekeepers, waiting staff, kitchen porters and cleaners from the Trump International Las Vegas, it was a night to come together and cheer on the woman standing between their boss and the White House. In a crowd made up overwhelmingly of women and immigrants, the tone was set from the moment Hillary Clinton first appeared on screen, setting off a roar that filled the otherwise deserted offices of the Culinary Union.

When Trump spoke of building a wall, people in the crowd shook their heads. When he accused Clinton of pushing for open borders, they yelled angrily at the screens. When he warned of all the “bad hombres” out there, the crowd erupted in laughter. “Oh my God,” came an incredulous voice from the row nearest the big screens.

For Carmen Llarull, a 64-year-old housekeeper at Trump’s hotel, the debate only confirmed what she already believed. “She cares about families. She cares about children. She cares about people like me,” says Llarull, who came to the US from Argentina more than three decades ago. In her view a Trump victory would be “a nightmare”.

Management at the hotel – a luxury high-rise, half-owned by Trump, that looks like a shimmering bar of gold on the Vegas skyline – have been locked in dispute with their 450 workers since last December, when staff voted by majority to unionise. The hotel challenged the vote at the National Labour Relations Board, but while the owners’ case was rejected, they still refuse to negotiate.

It’s a stance that puts Trump International at odds with most hotels on the Strip, which recognise the Culinary Union and negotiate contracts for their staff (the other large non-unionised hotel is the Venetian, owned by the large Republican Party donor Sheldon Adelson).

Without contracts, workers at Trump International earn on average $3 less than their counterparts in other hotels, and the hotel pays neither pension nor healthcare contributions.

Her $14-an-hour housekeeping job leaves Llarull with barely enough to provide for her family, pay her insurance and cover the cost of her weekly medicine. She finds it galling to listen to Trump champion the little people and denigrate immigrants like her. “My daughter is in the navy. My granddaughter is in the air force. He can’t say that we’re not good people. He doesn’t know us. He needs to listen to us, because he has a lot of things to learn from us.”

At a protest outside Trump International earlier in the day, Llarull wore a sash – the kind that a woman at one of Trump’s beauty pageants would wear – marked “Ms Housekeeping”.

Celia Vargas, a 58-year-old, originally from El Salvador, recalls how excited her family were when she got a job as a housekeeper at the Trump hotel three years ago. “But the reality, when I started. . . ” She cuts herself off. “I think we have a right to get union representation, health insurance, dignity in retirement.”

Vargas and others say that after the staff vote took place last December, some employees were given fewer shifts or told to clean more rooms. According to the Culinary Union, five workers who wore union badges to work were sacked and were only reinstated, with back pay, when they took a case to the labour board.

“We’re here making a business very successful for him and his group,” says Jeffery Wise, a waiter at the hotel. “All we want is for him to say: ‘Hey, we appreciate all the effort you put in, let’s sit down and see how we can make things better for you as well’.”

One of the most high-profile local backers of the Trump hotel workers is the young state senator Ruben Kihuen, whose family moved from Mexico to the US when he was eight years old and is now running for a seat in Congress.

Kihuen’s mother, Blanca, is a housekeeper of 22 years at the MGM Grand Hotel on the Strip. “It is not people like Donald Trump who make America great,” Kihuen says. “It’s people like my mother and these workers who make America great. If Donald Trump wants to make America great, he could start right here at his own property.”

But perhaps the workers’ most powerful ally is the union itself. With its 57,000 members, the Culinary Union is a serious force in Nevada politics, with an election machine that excels at reaching the key immigrant communities of Las Vegas.

This year, that machine is being pressed into service against Trump and for Clinton, whose positions on healthcare, immigration and workers’ rights have won her the union’s endorsement. Led by 100 Las Vegas hotel workers who have taken leave for the duration of the campaign, union representatives have so far knocked on 130,000 doors and helped more than 8,000 people to register to vote. The union has also worked with hotels on the strip to ensure that thousands of workers will be able to vote during their lunch break, with the help of a specially-arranged bus service.

The more Clinton imposed herself on the final debate, the more the tension eased among the Trump hotel workers gathered in the union building. She is now within touching distance of the presidency, and they could feel it.

“She did a good job,” says Trump hotel worker Elsabeth Mogues, originally from Ethiopia, whose vote for Clinton will be her first since securing US citizenship. “She was calm, and she cares about us women.”

And what of Trump’s performance? “Same old, same old,” Mogues responds. “We have gotten to know all about him.”</s>A pedestrian walks past the site for the third presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at UNLV in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016.

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's ugly and acrimonious battle for the White House is barreling toward the end, with the candidates taking the debate stage Wednesday night for one final primetime showdown.

For Trump, the debate is perhaps his last opportunity to turn around a race that appears to be slipping away from him. His comments about women and a flood of sexual assault accusations have deepened his unpopularity with women and limited his pathways to victory. His supporters remain intensely loyal, but there are few signs he's attracting the new backers he desperately needs.

Clinton takes the stage facing challenges of her own. While the electoral map currently leans in her favor, the Democrat is facing a new round of questions about her authenticity and trustworthiness, concerns that have trailed her throughout the campaign. The hacking of her top campaign adviser's emails revealed a candidate that is averse to apologizing, can strike a different tone in private than in public, and makes some decisions only after painstaking political deliberations.

The last in a trio of presidential debates, Wednesday's contest in Las Vegas comes just under three weeks from Election Day and with early voting already underway in several key battleground states.

Trump has leaned on an increasingly brazen strategy in the campaign's closing weeks, including peddling charges that the election will be rigged, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. presidential contests. He's also charged that Clinton attacked and intimidated women involved with her husband's affairs, bringing three women who accused former President Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual contact and even rape to sit in the audience for the second debate. The former president has never been charged with crimes related to the encounters, though he did settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Trump is bringing President Barack Obama's half-brother, Malik Obama, as his debate guest. Clinton is bringing billionaire and frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, one of the former secretary of state's highest-profile Republican backers.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said the Democratic nominee "will be ready for whatever scorched-earth tactics (Trump) tries" in Wednesday's debate.

Republicans desperately hope Trump can close the campaign by focusing on Clinton's weaknesses, a strategy some privately concede may not be enough at this point for him to win, but could help GOP Senate candidates salvage their races.

The businessman has shown flashes of renewed focus in recent days, including highlighting a senior State Department official's request that the FBI help reduce the classification of an email from Clinton's private server. It was to be part of a bargain that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries, though it was not immediately clear whether the State Department official or someone at the FBI first raised that prospect.

Campaigning Tuesday in Colorado, Trump called the matter "felony corruption" and worse than the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.

Clinton, who has meticulously prepared for the three debates at the expense of time in battleground states, visibly rattled Trump in their first showdown by using his own controversial comments about women and minorities against him. The businessman was on the defense at the start of the second debate —” which came days after the release of a video in which he brags about kissing and grabbing women — but ended on stronger footing, hammering Clinton for being a creature of Washington who won't be able to bring about change.

Trump denied in the second debate that he had made the kind of unwanted sexual advances he is heard describing on the video. His denial prompted some of the women who have since publicly accused him of assault to come forward.

The Republican has acquiesced to some advisers who pressed for him to do more serious preparations after the first debate. Still, he's continued to eschew the mock debates and multiday prep sessions that he's criticizing Clinton for.

"She's been doing this for 30 years and now she has to do debate prep for five days," Trump said. "You know what the debate prep is? It's resting. It's lying down and going to sleep.

Moderator Chris Wallace —€” the first Fox News journalist to moderate a debate —€” has said he plans to ask the candidates about debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and their fitness to be president. He aims to spend 15 minutes on each topic.

AP writer Jill Colvin in Colorado Springs, Colorado, contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet for the third presidential debate of the 2016 U.S. election at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.