REPUBLICANS WITHDRAW SUPPORT

A flood of Republicans have withdrawn their support for Trump over the video. The controversy has pitched Trump into the biggest crisis of his 16-month-old campaign and deepened fissures between him and establishment Republicans.

The debate's town hall-style format, with undecided voters posing about half the questions and the debate's two moderators posing the others, allowed the candidates to move freely around the stage and address the questioners directly.

Clinton, 68, and Trump, 70, both stood up to answer questions, and Clinton frequently stood directly in front of the questioners to try to make a connection with voters. At times Trump stood almost over her shoulder, or wandered the stage, while she spoke.

Trump complained about moderators Anderson Cooper of CNN and Martha Raddatz of ABC News, saying the debate was "three on one."

Trump and Clinton clashed on a series of topics throughout the debate, battling over taxes, healthcare, U.S. policy in the Syria civil war and Clinton's comments that half of Trump's supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorables."

"Within hours I said I was sorry about the way I talked about that, because my problem is not with his supporters, it's with him," Clinton said.

Trump, in a badgering tone, offered a blistering critique of Clinton's handling of foreign policy as secretary of state, repeatedly calling it a failure.

"She talks tough, she talks really tough," Trump said. "She talks about the rebels, she doesn't even know who the rebels are."

Taking a breath through his nose with a loud sniff, he continued, "The fact is almost everything she's done in foreign policy has been a mistake and a disaster."